Blue Room
by wowstars
Summary: Blue. All around them. Up. Down. Left. Right. All blue. Even the single bulb dangling from the ceiling was shining blue. There was no escape. Rachel/Janet
1. Prologue

_**Hi:) hope you enjoy, unbetaed so all mistakes are mine:P**_

_**N xxx **_

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><p><strong>Blue Room<strong>

_Blue. All around them. Up. Down. Left. Right. All blue. Even the single bulb dangling from the ceiling was shining blue. There was no escape._

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><p>Janet Scott kisses goodbye to her kids before heading out for another day's hard work. She shouts up to her mother, reminding her of the girls' drama lessons after school. It is almost 3 months since her break up with Adrian, and she had never been happier! She could see whoever she wanted, when he wanted. Watch what she liked, not bother cleaning up after him, it was great! She could go for a drink with Rachel after work without worrying about the definite argument when she got home, she could sneak off with Andy for a quickie without feeling guilty. All that mattered to her now was the happiness of her and her girls.<p>

Tonight she planned to surprise her girls with a cheesy movie and a takeaway. She had done little things like that with them more often since Ade left. While he was there it was impossible to watch anything girly as he would either moan all the way through or refuse to have the channel changed from Sky Sports. Janet felt the bond between her and her daughters was growing stronger, which eased the stress on her as she constantly worried about drugs and gangs and suicide and pregnancy and eating disorders and abusive relationships because she saw these awful things every day in her job and before now she hadn't been 100% sure that if anything was happening, her girls would be able to tell her about it.

She pushes down on her car's horn as she pulls up outside her best friend's house. After 30 seconds Rachel Bailey appears at her front door, looking rushed and disorganised as usual. Janet smiles. Rachel's car is in the repair shop so she's getting a lift with Janet.

"Morning," Rachel says, climbing in and changing to radio station to Capital FM.

"Morning," Janet replies, frowning at the noisy pop music blasting from the radio speakers. She waits for Rachel to put her seatbelt on then drives away. As she watches her apply the rest of the makeup out of the corner of her eye, a strange feeling stirs in the pit of Janet's stomach. She takes a deep breath and puts her foot down, not wanting to think about it.

They arrive in MIT and already everyone is crowded around Gill as she explains the latest case. "Janet, Rachel, perfect timing. You two need to follow up a lead. Gerard Bilson. Small time scumbag, he knows both victims." Janet looks up at the photos pinned to the investigation board. There are two women, both of similar age. Both are painfully thin and have a single slash down the left side of their necks, presumably cutting the carotid artery.

"He kidnaps his victims, starves and probably tortures them for a few months, kills them, rapes them and dumps them," Gill says. "Andy, you go talk to the families. Kevin, Harry Stayn. The rest of you find out more about both victims and see if you find any more possible suspects. And I of course have to deal with the wonderful fucking press. Again. Why can't they just leave us to do our bloody jobs?" Gill rants on as she packs up her papers and makes her way down to the press room.

Rachel chuckles. "She's sane as ever," she says sarcastically. "We'd better go see Gerard Bilson then."

Janet scans the papers on the table. "We've got a warrant, must be serious," she says, reading the case files. "Do you think we need backup, he sounds nasty. It could be dangerous."

"Nah, she'd have said if we needed it," Rachel replies. "Come on."

* * *

><p>"I'm having a takeaway tonight with the girls," says Janet, knocking on the door of 6 Bertie Street. "If you want to join you're very welcome. You can help me choose a film; I've run out of ideas."<p>

"Yeah, ok," Rachel smiles. "That'd be nice." Their eyes meet and Janet smiles back, her insides twisting and turning to jelly.

"Hello," a harsh voice comes from the door. Janet turns around.

"Mr Bilson?" She asks and he nods. "I'm Detective Constable Janet Scott, and this is my colleague Detective Constable Rachel Bailey. We're here to ask you a few questions about the murders of Leanne Bathurst and Trixie McLeanard. Can we come in? We have a warrant to look around."

He opens the door to let them past, saying nothing. They go through to the living room and sit down on the grimy looking sofa. "Right, first of all, can you tell me, Mr Bilson, where you were between 16:00 and 23:00 last Thursday night?" Janet says.

"I was here," he replies calmly.

"Can anyone confirm that?"

"No."

"Ok. What was the nature of your relationship with Leanne Bathurst?"

"She was an acquaintance, I painted her front room."

"What about Trixie McLeanard?"

"Tiled her bathroom."

Janet writes down her notes, shuffling uncomfortably. The sofa was damp and saggy, and the room smelt vile. "Do you mind if we take a look around?" She asks.

"No," he replies.

They stand up and begin to look around the rooms downstairs. They are mostly filled with tools and paint tins. Janet follows Rachel up the stairs. There is a bedroom, a bathroom and three empty rooms. They turn out of the third one when Rachel stops.

"What's that?" She turns around, walking towards the corner of the room. Janet follows and squats down next to her.

"Blood," she says softly. "And look, hair too." She takes a photo of Trixie out of her pocket. "Same colour as Trixie's."

Suddenly Janet is aware of the hairs on the back of her neck standing up. Before she can turn around, a damp rag is pressed to her mouth and her vision fades to black.

* * *

><p>Blue. All around them. Up. Down. Left. Right. All blue. Even the single bulb dangling from the ceiling was shining blue. There was no escape.<p> 


	2. Day 1

**Thanks for all the lovely reviews for Chapter 1 :) Keep 'em coming! Here is the second chapter. You might think some of it is a bit disgusting, but I'm trying to make it as realistic as possible:) I hope you enjoy it :)**

**Love**

**N xxx**

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><p><span>Chapter 2: Day 1<span>

The first thing Janet notices is the cold of the concrete floor beneath her. She slowly sits up, frowning as her head throbs painfully. Looking around her, she notices that they are in a circular concrete room. All the walls and the floor are painted baby blue. The room is tall and at the top she can just see the glow of a blue light bulb. It was like some sort of silo. And there was no way out.

"Jan?" Rachel's voice echoes from across the room. As she squints over at her colleague she realises they have both been stripped to their underwear. Despite their current situation Janet suddenly feels self conscious in her plain white bra and comfort knickers as Rachel is wearing a lacy black balcony bra and matching thong and looks absolutely gorgeous.

"Rach," Janet croaks back. "We've been captured. There's no way out." Rachel's bottom lip begins to wobble. "But," Janet adds quickly. "Gill knew where we were going, so we will be ok. Just need to wait it out, ok?"

Rachel sniffs and nods. "It's bloody freezing in here. How long have we been here?"

Janet holds up her bare arm. "They took all our jewellery. I think only a couple of hours though. I've grazed my knees and they haven't scabbed over yet."

"Are you sure there's no way out?" Rachel says, unsteadily standing up. "There must be a way out otherwise how could we get in?" She starts slowly walking the perimeter of the room, her fingers sliding across the walls to find a door or some way they could get out.

"There's no point Rach, Leanne and Trixie never found a way out. There's probably a door up there," she points the the ceiling. "But we can't see it because of the light. Come on, sit down. Gill will be here soon."

"You're right," she sighs. "Or Andy might come to rescue you," she taunts.

"Or Kevin," Janet teases back.

"Kevin!" Rachel repeats incredulously. She sinks down next to Janet. "Sorry, but I think he's more the annoying little brother than knight in shining armour."

"I think he's got a soft spot for you," Janet says.

Rachel laughs, shaking her head. "I don't think so. God I need a fag." She runs a hand through her hair.

"Maybe this few hours will do you good," Janet smiles. "The first step to quitting."

"Or just make me incredibly short tempered and grumpy."

"Yeah, most likely," Janet laughs. They are silent for a couple of minutes.

"Jan," Rachel starts quietly. "What do you think we're meant to do when we need the toilet?"

"Can't you hold it? We'll be out in a couple of hours."

"But if we don't get out. There's no toilet in here and I'm- I've got the decorators in."

Janet suddenly feels a wave of despair at what they will have to face if they don't get out of here in the next 24 hours. Her eyes scan the room and she spots something on the floor on the other side of the room. She stands up, groaning as her knees crack. She is slightly wobbly as she walks across the room.

"Rach, its bread and water," Janet calls. Rachel jogs over to her. There is a loaf of bread and two jugs of water. 'This is your lot' is scrawled on a scrap of paper next to it.

Rachel catches Janet's wrist as she reaches for the loaf of bread. "I think they mean it," she says, nodding towards the paper.

"It doesn't matter, we won't be here that long," Janet smiles.

"Well, I don't think we should take any chances, just in case. Just eat when hungry, drink when thirsty, and not too much. We don't even know if we're still in Manchester. Even if they arrest Bilson, that still doesn't mean they'll find us. And he's probably not working alone, how could he get us both here if he was?"

Janet sighs. "Ok," she counts the slices in her head. "How about half a slice each a day and 3 mouthfuls of water?"

"Ok. Janet, I'm wearing a tampon, it's been in more than 7 hours, I really need to take it out," Rachel says, her voice slightly panicky and her cheeks have gone slightly red.

"How about we have the furthest place away from the food for all the yucky stuff. Over there," she points to where they were just sitting.

Rachel goes over and Janet looks away, her cheeks threatening to give away how her best friend had begun to make her feel. She didn't know what was wrong with her. Maybe she was having a mid life crisis. Whatever it was, Rachel Bailey was occupying her thoughts more and more and she didn't know how to stop it.

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><p>Hours passed and still Rachel and Janet were trapped in the Blue Room. They couldn't even hear anything from outside. They had both given up trying to hold their bladders and the room now had the sharp smell of urine hanging in the air making it hard for them to breathe properly. Rachel had produced her spare key from her bra and they had spent the last hour or so scratching games of noughts and crosses into the wall. Janet had suggested they eat half of their daily rations an hour or so before sleeping to avoid being woken up by hunger during the night, and spread the rest out over the day.<p>

"How do you know so much about rationing food and all that?" Rachel finally asks. "I mean, like chewing it loads to feel fuller and avoiding hunger pains?"

Janet looks down at her half eaten piece of bread. "I uh, you know all that stuff with Veronica Hastings?"

"Yeah."

"Well you know that I was the last person to see her alive and as I got into my teen years I started to feel guilty about that and I struggled a bit with erm, PTSD and anorexia for a couple of years. But then I got better and decided to join up - for Veronica. And it did good, we caught him in the end, didn't we?"

"Yeah after her nearly killed you though," Rachel sighs. "Bastard."

Janet nibbles at her bread. Then suddenly the light in the room goes out, and the room is black.

"Do you think that our cue to go to sleep?" Janet says quietly.

"I guess it is," Rachel sighs again. "I'm gonna save the last of my bread for tomorrow; I don't feel like eating anyway."

"Me neither," Janet feels around for the loaf of bread and puts her and Rachel's scraps next to it. Janet lies down on the cold hard floor and Rachel shuffles up next to her.

"It's freezing Jan, do you mind?" She whispers.

"No," Janet whispers back. Rachel cuddles up to her, putting her arms around Janet and she does the same, ignoring her body's reaction to the contact.

Minutes pass then Rachel speaks.

"This is bad, isn't it?" She sniffs. "We're not going to get out of this." She wipes her cheek with the back of her hand.

"We are, we're going to be fine," Janet says forcefully, refusing to believe for one second that they wouldn't be out and she'd be home to her girls in no time. She had to be. They couldn't be without her. She feels Rachel nod against her.

"Yeah, I'm just being daft," she whispers. And soon they are both sound asleep.


	3. Day 5

**Thank you for all the wonderful reviews, I'm really glad you like it :) I will warn that this story will get quite dark though, that's all I'm giving away! ;) Enjoy!**

**Love**

**N xxxxx**

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><p><span>Chapter 3: Day 5<span>

Janet opens her eyes. It's still dark in the room. Not time to get up yet. She squeezes her eyes shut again but she's wide awake now. Gently she untangles herself from Rachel's arms and feels around for the water jugs. She dips her fingers in one of them and scrubs inside her mouth to freshen her breath and stop her teeth sticking to the inside of her lips. She shuffles back over to where Rachel is sleeping soundly and sits against the wall, gently lifting her friends head to rest in her lap. For the first time since their arrival, Janet allows herself to consider the possibility that they wouldn't get rescued from the Blue Room, that she wouldn't see her girls again. She wonders what they are doing now. Would they be awake? Would they be thinking of her? Would they be staying with Ade, or with her mother? She bites back tears, knowing that she couldn't afford to lose the hydration, or wake Rachel. She needed all the sleep she could get. Janet tenderly strokes the sleeping DC's cheek, her other hand tangled in her long brown hair. It is begining to get greasy at the roots and her face has the occasional spot appearing from not being able to take her makeup off but Janet doesn't mind. Even with tired eyes, greasy hair and skin like a teenager Rachel Bailey still looked beautiful. Just looking at her gave her a feeling not even Andy had given her. But it wasn't just lust she felt, it was something stronger. She felt an overwhelming desire to protect her, and every time their eyes met her stomach flipped and her heart jumped. Even with all they had to worry about she still found herself fantasising about how Rachel's lips would feel against hers. Heavenly. But she knew it could never be.

Janet squeezes her eyes shut as the light comes on and pain shoots through her head. She squints as her eyes adjust to the brightness.

"Ugh," Rachel stirs in her lap. "Jan?"

"Morning," Janet says with false cheeriness. Rachel sits up, clutching her stomach.

"I could eat a fucking horse," she groans, leaning against the wall next to Janet.

"Unlucky," she replies. "And since we've still not been rescued, our rations are down to a quarter of bread a day. Unless you want to make like Bear Grylls and start eating shit."

"I think I'll pass on that," Rachel leans on Janet to help herself up and walks over to the food and water. She picks up the key and scratches a line across the four tallys already on the wall marking their fifth day.

"Sleep well?" Janet asks, struggling to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm still knackered though. You?"

"Kind of, I woke up about ten minutes before you. And a couple of times in the night."

Rachel takes a small sip of water and sighs. "You know, this is getting fucking ridiculous. Why haven't they found us yet?" She slams her palms against the wall.

"We've just got to be patient. They'll get here eventually."

"But what if they don't?" Rachel turns to face her. "How long did Trixie and Leanne get kept for?"

"Hard to say, we think 4-5 months. But we won't be here that long," Janet reassures, but doubt stirs in the pit of her stomach. She could feel herself breaking, unable to hold herself together much longer. Her eyes were stinging as she fought to control her emotions.

"Jan? You alright?" Rachel rests a hand on her arm, giving it a friendly squeeze.

She hesitates. "Um, yeah. Yeah I'm fine," she lies. "Come on, let's eat."

* * *

><p>"Right, so, with the current food how long will we last?" Rachel is poised to write with the key.<p>

"Well if we keep eating the same amount, food will run out in 40 days, maybe less. And the human body can last about a month without food. Whether that's different because of the lack of food before I'm not sure, but if we run out of water that's when we're in trouble."

"But we think Trixie and Leanne survived for 4 or 5 months, so surely they got given more food? And they didn't die from dehydration or starvation, they got slashed down the artery in their necks." Rachel scratches furiously into the wall as her mind runs through more and more information and theories.

"But they could, as disgusting as it is, have um... recycled their human waste to survive," Janet suggests. Rachel shudders.

"Yeah I think I'll starve before I do that."

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Janet sighs.

"You know Gill said she reckoned they were tortured? What if they do that to us?" Rachel crawls up to Janet and leans against the wall next to her.

"We're police officers. We're trained in self defence."

"But there might be more than one of them. They might knock us out again."

"No. They can't-" Janet's voice breaks. Rachel puts her arms around her, resting her chin on the top of her head.

"Shh, come on, we'll be ok. The entire force is probably out looking for us. We'll be ok." Rachel rocks her as a sob escapes her lips.

"The girls... They need me... I need them. I can't stand the thought of what they're going through now," Janet clings to her, all the dispair that had built up since their arrival flowing out of her with her tears.

"I know," Rachel whispers, stroking Janet's hair, pressing her lips to her forehead sending tingles through Janet's body. Janet buries her face in Rachel's neck to hide her bright red cheeks, unaware that Rachel has also gone slightly pink. They sit in silence for a few minutes as Janet's breathing slowly returns to normal.

Janet sniffs and sits up. Her eyes meet Rachel's and a fire starts in her stomach. Was it just her or were they getting closer? Rachel's eyes flicker down to Janet's lips and they both lean a little closer to each other.

The room goes black.

Janet curses in her head. They were so close. She hears Rachel take a deep breath.

"Right then, bed time," she says, lying down. Janet lies down next to her and they shuffle close together as usual, slowly slipping into sleep.

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><p>Janet's eyes slowly open. It's still pitch black but her mouth is dry so she feels around for the water and splashes some into her mouth before lying back down, feeling around for Rachel.<p>

"Rach?" She whispers. "Rachel?" Louder this time.

Rachel was gone.


	4. Day 6

**Sorry for taking so long with this! I've had a bit of trouble getting motivated these last few weeks, but hopefully I'm on the up now :) Thanks for reading**

**N xxx**

Chapter 4: Day 6

Janet's heart thuds loudly in her chest. "Rachel?" She shouts. She sits up and crawls across the room, feeling for her best friend and being careful to avoid their waste area. She collapses onto the floor. Rachel wasn't there. She sobs as ideas of what could have happened fill her mind. Why Rachel? Why not her? For the rest of the night she sits there, hugging her knees to her chest and rocking back and forth. After several hours her head starts to ache and she just sees the bright light of the room flicker on before her vision fades to black.

-x-x-x-

"J-Jan? _Jan? _Janet please wake up. _Please..._"

Janet regains consciousness as a tear falls onto her cheek. She sits up quickly then groans as she starts to feel light headed. "Rachel?"

Rachel's eyes are bloodshot and filled with tears. A large purple bruise has appeared across her cheek and blood is trickling down her forehead. She falls into her best friend's arms and sobs loudly, clinging to her for dear life.

"Oh Rach," Janet whispers as she strokes her hair and rests her chin on the top of her head. She notices that Rachel's hair is no longer greasy and has its normal healthy shine back. "Shh... it's ok." She wraps her arms tightly around her. Her stomach twists and turns as fear of what could have happened creeps into her head. Where had Rachel gone in the night, and what had happened?

Minutes pass and finally Rachel's sobs get quieter. Janet gives her a squeeze then turns her head to look her in the eye. She looks so vulnerable Janet can barely hold back tears herself. She looks like a child left alone at home for the first time that has just heard a movement behind them. That wide eyed childishness makes her heart ache with longing to see her daughters again. Her two beautiful little girls, lost and alone wondering where she was. Whether she was dead or alive. And she would give her right arm to let them know she's ok. She blinks, focusing her attention back on Rachel, scared that if she continued thinking about her girl she would fall apart.

"What happened?" She says softly. Rachel's eyes go moist again and she sniffs, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand.

"I- um- I got us some food," she says, avoiding Janet's gaze. She reaches in her bra and pulls out a handful of sliced chicken. "I nicked it when they went out the room." She hands Janet a slice and keeps one for herself, putting the rest next to the bread. Janet swallows hers eagerly while Rachel slowly picks at hers, keeping her head down and her hair covering her damp face.

Janet waits for her to finish eating. Her stomach was twisting into a thousand knots. She had never seen Rach act like this before. She was so... just so quiet. It was like she was hiding, trying not to be noticed. She wasn't her usual noisy self. And this scared Janet more than Any criminal ever could.

"Rach?" Janet says softly, tenderly brushing her hair off her face and tuckin it behind an ear. Rachel's eyes are staring blankly towards the floor, her teeth biting hard into her lip as she struggles to contain the flow of tears. She looks so vulnerable, so child like, that a lump forms in Janet's throat.

They are silent for a few minutes until the tears in Rachel's eyes overflow and a sob escapes her mouth. Once more she collapses into her best friends arms, a broken woman.

"They raped me."

-x-x-x-

Janet sighs, gently stroking Rachel's hair as she slept in her lap. The light wasn't out yet, but she had told Rachel to try get as much sleep as possible. She looks down at her best friend. Her was peaceful, but there was still evidence of her ordeal there. The cut on her forehead was just beginning to clot, and the bruise across her cheek has turned a harsher shade of blue and purple. As Janet's eyes scan Rachel's body anger twists in her stomach. The marks on her body make it more apparent what has happened. The black bruises on the insides of her thighs, the scratches on her shoulders, the bites on her chest. Janet had never felt so much hatred. Even when Jeff Hastings stabbed her she hadn't felt this much venom. She wanted to kill whoever had done this.

But she also kept in mind that it was likely to not be the last horror they would have to experience here. God only knows what else is in store for them. A tear rolls down her cheek and she quickly wipes it away with the back or her hand, causing Rachel to stir slightly.

"Shh," Janet whispers, running her thumb across Rachel's cheek as she settles down again. For the first time, she then allows herself to really think about her growing feelings for her friend. What would happen if Rach found out? Would that be their friendship ruined forever? Janet couldn't risk that, she meant too much for her to lose. Though she couldn't hold back the tiny hope that she felt the same. She thought she could sense it in her eyes sometimes. The way she looked at her more tenderly than friends should. Could they ever possibly be together? Maybe, just maybe...

She looks down at her friend, at her perfect lips, her face still beautiful though battered and bruised. To her, Rachel Bailey was an angel.

You have stolen my heart.

She glances at her arm, forgetting for a moment that there's no watch there. Sighing, she gently shifts herself so she too is lying down, Rachel's head now resting in the crook of her neck. For a second it feels like they are a couple, lying in their big comfortable bed together, falling asleep in each others arms. But that fantasy soon fades as the cold of the floor chills Janet's skin. She shivers, cuddling closer to Rach. As she slowly drifts off to sleep, she hears the faint click of the light as the room plunges into darkness. Her lips brush across Rachel's forehead.

"Goodnight Rach," she whispers softly.

-x-x-x-

Rachel's eyelids slowly flutter open. Hearing Janet's soft snore, she props herself up on her elbow. Her eyes were getting more used to the dark each night now, and she could just make out Janet's face. Hesitantly, she leans across and her lips brush Janet's. Her heart flutters.

"Goodnight Jan."

She settles back down in Janet's arms, and goes to sleep.


	5. Day 11

**Enjoy! Thanks for all the reviews so far, it's nice to know what you all think :D keep 'em coming!**_  
><em>

**N xxx**

**PS - I just started reading the S&B prequel 'Dead To Me'by Cath Staincliffe - it's worth a read ;)**

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><p><em>"Mum? Mum? Mum where are you? Please come back. I - who are you? Get off me! NO! NO! Mum please help me! HELP!"<em>

Janet wakes with a start. Her heart hammers in her chest and sweat is trickling down her forehead. Taking a moment to recover, she becomes aware of all the water she is losing sweating like this. Shit. Their water supplies are down; they have now almost finished their first jug. Janet wipes her forehead with the back of her hand then brings it up to her lips, wincing as she licks up the moisture. _So this is what I've been reduced to_, she thinks, _licking up my own sweat. _

She sighs, running a hand through her hair. It seemed to now be at saturation point and wasn't getting any greasier. It was beyond her how her hair could be so greasy at the top, but her ends were frizzy and dry.

She closes her eyes to try to get some more sleep, but she's wide awake now. Her breathing slowly steadies as the horror of her dream fades.

The lights flicker on.

Rachel groans, shielding her eyes with her hand.

"Are we out yet?"

"Nope. Still stuck in this delightful place," Janet chuckles, weakly lifting herself to a sitting position. "I need a wee."

"Ugh, gimme five minutes," Rachel buries her face in her hair, turning over onto her stomach.

"Ok," Janet sighs. She leans back against the wall, her head spinning due to the lack of food. What she would do for some of Tasie's tasteless half cooked burgers right now.

Finally Rachel sits up. "Ok, let's get it over and done with. I need one too."

Rachel stands up and offers her hand to Janet to help her up.

"Looks like the decorators came knocking in the night," Rachel smirks, nodding toward the patch of floor where Janet was just sitting.

"Oh god," Janet rolls her eyes as she spots the smears of blood there. "Typical. I'd better stay near the loo then."

Rachel laughs. "You wanna go first?"

"Ok."

Janet lowers her knickers and squats against the wall and Rachel holds her up by both of her hands. They had started this little ritual a couple of days ago when Janet had passed out and fallen in their waste. Being older, the amount of food they were currently consuming was having a worse effect on Janet than Rachel. But there were times when Rach too felt a little worse for wear, so they decided to hold each other up even if they felt ok.

When they're both done Janet sits on the floor about a metre away from their 'toilet' and Rachel fetches them both their morning rations.

"Wonder how they're getting on looking for us," Rachel says, sitting down heavily next to Janet. "How long does it bloody take!"

Janet nibbles her bread. "They're obviously missing your amazing detective skills, aren't they, Sherlock?" She smirks.

"I hope that wasn't mean as a sarcastic comment, Janet Scott," Rach raises her eyebrows. Janet bursts out laughing. Rachel gives her a playful punch in the arm.

"Rude!" She tries to look hurt but can't help grinning.

* * *

><p>Janet looks up at Rachel as she does her daily sweep of the Blue Room like some way out will have magically appeared. Janet was now beginning to notice that the curves she had always loved Rach for were starting to fade. A wave of despair washes over her. It's only going to get worse, a little voice in her head whispers. She remembers herself when she was younger. The day her parents had her admitted to hospital for her eating disorder. She remembers the first time she realised how gaunt and fragile she looked. With a feeding tube threaded up one nostril, and a drip in her arm, she had thought to herself how completely awful she looked. She was meant to look beautiful when she was thin, not worse. And she had cried and cried.<p>

"There's got to be a way out somehow!" Rachel growls, frustrated.

"Sit down, getting angry is not going to help anything," Janet says softly. Rachel scowls and sits next to Janet with a thud.

"I'm fucking sick of it in here Janet!" She shouts emotionally. "I want to go home."

Janet pulls her into a hug. "It's alright," she soothes. "Come on. We've got to keep up spirits. Otherwise how will we survive here?"

"I don't want to survive here, Jan," she whispers into her chest. "I want it to stop. I want out."

"No, don't talk like that," Janet says into her hair. "Come on, we've gotta keep strong, keep cheery. For each other. Come on, Rach. What would I do without you?"

Rachel lifts her head and looks straight into Janet's eyes. There was something there that made them both warm inside. Made them forget their worries. Made them feel happy.

"And how can we keep cheery?" Rachel says softly, her face an inch from Janet's.

"I dunno," Janet whispers, her eyes on Rachel's lips. "We could... we could have a dance."

Rachel laughs. "We've no music."

"We could sing. I'm sure we're as bad as each other."

Rach smiles. "Go on then."

Janet stands up and holds her hand out to Rach. Rachel takes it and is pulled up into Janet's arms.

"What song?"

"I don't know. You choose."

"Do you know any Beach Boys?"

"Yeah," Janet smiles. "Didn't know you liked that sort of music."

"I don't. I just don't know any other slow songs."

"I didn't think Nicki Minaj stretched to that," Janet chuckles. And they both begin to sing.

"_I may not always love you, but as long as there are stars above you, you never need to doubt it, I'll make you so sure about it. God only knows what I'll be without you..._"

It was beautiful. They were both off tune, and both looked like they'd been dragged through a hedge backwards, but it was beautiful. And as they swayed together, their fingers entwined, their bodies pressed close.

They both trail off as their eyes meet once more. They both know what is going to happen, and neither want to stop it.

Their lips meet.

The kiss is clumsy at first. They explore each other's mouths, familiarise themselves with the sensations being created. It was heavenly. Janet felt like she was floating, like she was dreaming. Like-

Smack.

"Oh my god! Janet!"

Janet eyes flicker and she stares up at the ceiling.

"I'm ok," she croaks. "I just got a bit light headed."

Rachel tenderly lifts her to a sitting position. She rushes across the room and fetches the almost empty water jug.

"Here," she says softly. Janet takes a sip. She smiles weakly up at Rach.

"Have you always had this effect on me?" She chuckles softly. Rachel laughs.

The light clicks off.

"Come on, let's get some kip," Rachel helps Janet crawl over to where they were sleeping while it was Janet's 'time of the month'.

They lie down together. They both feel good tonight. No more hiding feelings. They feel at ease.

Rachel presses her lips to Janet's.

"Sleep well Jan," she says softly.

"Night Rach."


	6. Day 19

******Hi! Sorry I took so long to update, I'm back in the hospital so updates might be slow. So I am being very mean leaving it on a cliffhanger. Again. **

**Enjoy :)**

**Lots of love**

**N xxxx**

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><p><strong>Chapter 6: Day 19<strong>

_Gill Murray is awoken by the familiar buzzing of her phone on the edge of her desk. She quickly jumps up and grabs it._

"_Oh, hiya Sammy... No I'm fine, just stayed over at the office working... I know Sammy... Yes, but crimes don't solve themselves, do they? I'm up to my eyeballs here... Right I'll see you tonight... Yes I'll be back... Right ta ta."_

_She sighs and throws her phone back down onto her desk, glancing at her watch. one would be in for a while, but she might as well get to work._

_She grabs her handbag and nips to the loos to reapply her makeup. Can't have people thinking she's weakening. She quickly returns her bag to her office then makes her way to the meeting room. She stares at the board. It just feels wrong. Their faces shouldn't be on there, they should be sat at their chairs. Janet moaning about Ade and Rachel thinking Gill has no idea she calls her 'Godzilla'. Maybe she shouldn't have demanded her team deal with this case after all._

_Gill picks up a marker and crosses off another day on the calendar. 19 days without a trace. Gerard Bilson, the scumbag they were on their way to meet when they were last seen, was being kept in custody and had been charged with kidnap and two counts of murder. Hopefully that number wouldn't rise anytime soon. He was still refusing to say a word though, so their only guess was that he wasn't working alone. So Janet and Rachel's chances of living were slim. God knows what sort of person would hang around him._

_Gill was trying to reassure herself and her team that they would find Rachel and Janet before it was too late. The bodies of Bilson's earlier victims were both extremely malnourished and emaciated. They would have had to be starved for at least a couple of months to be in that state. Both bodies were covered in wounds and scars - some still open - that the pathologist concluded were all inflicted in the last few months. That meant they were all inflicted while they were in captivity, that they were tortured. Just thinking about it made Gill feel sick. Both women had been raped - several times - pre and post mortem. What a sick shitbag._

_Gill's head snaps up as Andy walks into the room. He has huge bags under his eyes - he hasn't been sleeping since Janet was taken. Gill can tell. She knows more about what goes on in her syndicate than people think._

"_Boss," he nods at her._

"_Alright Andy?" She asks, resting her chin on her hand. _

"_Any more leads come in?" He replies, avoiding her question. Gill shakes her head. He sighs._

"_Why can't we find them?" He growls, frustrated. "They can't have just vanished off the face of the earth. They have to be somewhere."_

"_I know," Gill sighs. "I know."_

* * *

><p>Rachel and Janet groan simultaneously as the blue light flickers on. They have both become weaker in the past few days and were starting to look gaunt and ill. Rachel's cheekbones stuck out and her eyes were sunken. Janet wasn't as thin as Rachel yet as her eating disorder as a teen has permanently slowed her metabolism, but she too was experiencing the side effects of malnutrition. Constantly cold, hunger pains, hair falling out of her head and more was appearing on the rest of her body. Their hopes of being rescued were fading fast.<p>

For several minutes neither of them can summon up the energy to move. They just lie in each other's arms lazily, not wanting to move away from the heat of the other's body. Eventually Janet shakily pushes herself up into a sitting position. Her head aching, she squints around her for the water jug. She crawls over to it, her eyelids fluttering shut as she feels the cool glass against her lips, the liquid flowing down her throat and landing in her empty stomach.

"Gimme some," Rachel croaks, crawling up next to her. Janet passes her the jug and turns and picks up the Rachel's door key, scratching off day 19 on their homemade wall calendar with a sigh. She then turns back to her friend and places her arms around her waist, nuzzling her face into the crook of her neck. Rachel puts the jug back down and twists her head so their lips meet, bringing her legs round to sit on Janet's lap. They spent most of their time making out nowadays - there was really nothing better to do in Blue Room. And it was surprisingly thirst quenching.

They were now down to four slices of bread. Both were terrified of what was the come then it was all gone. Each day they ate less and less, tying to make it last, but they knew it couldn't last forever. They were on to the second jug of water, which was half empty, and had taken to urinating in the first jug, just in case they were forced to resort to that.

Since her rape, Rachel had been spiralling further and further down to the brink of breakdown. When they weren't kissing she would rock back and forth, hugging her knees to her chest and digging her brittle nails into the tops of her arms. Her eyes looked so empty it made Janet want to cry. Her lover's pain was hurting her too. Several times Janet had to restrain Rachel from banging her head against the walls and sobbing uncontrollably, or strangling herself with her bare hands.

"I just want it out of my head," she would cry. "I can't get it out."

It was breaking Janet's heart.

* * *

><p>Janet groans loudly. It can't be morning yet, surely. She sits up and brings herself to open her eyes. <em>I'm dreaming,<em> she thinks. The round blue walls were gone, and she was now surrounded by navy blue straight ones. In the corner of the new room was a small kitchen. And a fridge. A _fridge. Food._ She stands up so fast she almost falls back down again and sprints over to it, cramming every bit of food she possibly could into her mouth. Ham, tomatoes, lettuce, fizzy drinks, chocolate - everything. She doesn't even notice the footsteps marching up behind her.

_Thud._

All she feels is a crack on the back of her head before her world fades to black.

* * *

><p><em>Gill Murray buttons up her blazer jacket. Tonight, she would appear in front of the press yet again to try and get more leads on where Rachel and Janet were. She hoped to God that they would get a useful lead this time. Everyone was getting more and more hopeless every day. Her included. <em>

Buzz Buzz

_She grabs her phone off her desk, clicking answer._

"_DCI Gill Murray," she answers. It's Julie Dodson._

"_Hiya, how are you doing?"_

"_Alright," Gill replies. "What do you want?"_

"_We've found two bodies."_

_Gill's heart stops._

"_Is it...?"_

_A single tear rolls down her cheek._


	7. Day 22

******Hello! Sorry it's been so long! I'm still locked up and they said I can't have my laptop because they thought I could get internet so I've been having to write whilst on home leave, but I'm so busy! But yeah here's the latest chapter :)**

**Scott and Bailey etc isn't mine blah blah blah**

**Enjoy!**

**N xxx**

**p.s. ITS CHRIIIIISSTMAAAAASS!**

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: Day 22<strong>

_The atmosphere in MIT was grim. All of them felt as though they were walking through mud. Everything took ten times more effort. The usual office banter had long ago faded and was now completely nonexistent. Even Kevin didn't make jokes or pranks anymore. The team were drowning in despair._

_This didn't go unnoticed by Gill Murray, the SIO for the team. And as she folded away her glasses she decided she owed it to her team to give them a pep talk to try and boost the mood. _

"_Right, gents," she begins. "I know these past few days have been extremely tough. And I know we're all starting to give up hope - myself included - but we've got to keep trying. Keep open minded, follow up _every_ lead. We _can _find them."_

* * *

><p>"Rachel? Rachel!" Janet gives her screaming friend a shake. "Come on Rach, it's just a dream, come on." She gently moves Rachel's hair out of her face as she begins to sob. "Shh, it's alright Rach, it's just me here. No one is going to hurt us. You're safe." She pulls Rachel up and wraps her arms around her. It is still dark in Blue Room, but Janet had been lying awake for ages, with the sound of Rachel's breathing and her own growling stomach to keep her company. As Rachel's breathing got more irregular Janet had moved closer to her to try and wake her only to scare her friend more and send her into another flashback.<p>

Janet's own bruises were starting to fade, and as she had been taught how to deal with these things wasn't having half the problems Rachel was. Rachel had become withdrawn and had flashbacks and had begun to scratch vigorously at her arms and legs, as if she was trying to scrub away every trace of what she had been through. She was trembling so much Janet had to help her hold the jug of water to minimise spillages.

Janet buries her face in her friend's hair. "Shh, it's ok. You're ok. Come on Rach." They were both beginning to get used to their natural body odours. Rachel's hair smelt of stale sweat, but Janet didn't mind it anymore. It was difficult to care about anything other than getting out anymore. Janet refused to think of her girls because she burst out crying every time they entered her mind and she couldn't afford to lose vital fluids through tears.

Rachel's breathing slowly returns to normal and Janet gives a sigh of relief. After a moment or two of silence Rachel looks up into Janet's eyes and gives her a slow, sensual kiss on the lips. As the kiss becomes more hungry and lustful, they do not notice the semiconscious teenager a couple of metres away.

"Urrrggghh."

Janet and Rachel both freeze. The noise comes again and they both turn towards the skinny little girl. Rachel grabs Janet's arm, afraid she is hallucinating, and Janet's eyes fill with tears as the girl's hair reminds her of Elise. But the initial shock soon passes and they are rushing over to help the girl. Rachel gives her bony shoulder a gentle shake and Janet sits her up.

The girl's eyes open then shut again, a piercing scream escaping her lips. "Don't hurt me!" She yells, her arms and legs thrashing.

"We won't hurt you," Janet tries to reassure her, dodging her fists. Rachel pulls her away.

"Leave her for now," she says softly. "Let her calm down for a bit."

Janet and Rachel retreat back to the other side of the room and continue about their usual morning rituals. Rachel scratched another tally into the wall marking their 22nd day in Blue Room and Janet broke them both a miniscule amount of bread for their breakfast. They had given up on techniques to make their 'meals' seem larger. The amount of bread wasn't big enough to nibble and too small to chew more than once.

The young girl was now watching them intently, astonished at how they made being trapped here look so simple and leisurely. Had they been trapped as long as long as she had? And why was she suddenly in here with them?

Rachel looked over at the young girl and smiled kindly. She nudged Janet, signalling to her that they should try again to talk to the newcomer. Well, she seemed new, even though she didn't look like it. The bewildered look on her face said she was new to this but her physical appearance and how terrified she was said she had been here longer than they had.

"Hello," Janet says, slowly shuffling closer to the girl. "Um, what's your name?" Janet wasn't really sure what to say. What could be said in this situation?

"A- Annex," she stutters. "Wh- who are you?"

"I'm DC J- I mean I'm Janet." Damn you old habits. "This is Rachel."

"Hi," Rach smiles.

"You're a cop?"

They both nod.

"So what are you, like, undercover?"

"Unfortunately not," Janet sighs. "We're trapped."

"Oh," Annex hugs her knees to her chest. "Um, have you been here long?"

"22 days," Rachel answers. Annex smiles.

"Ah, so you're pretty new. Have you had a trip out yet?"

Rachel's stomach drops. She feels sick. Janet nods.

"How long have you been here?" Janet tries to change the subject.

"I think about 3 ½ months." Even though the girl seemed at ease with them now, her voice was still uneven and jumpy.

"And you've been on your own all that time?"

"Yeah. Well, two other women got moved in with me for two days about a month ago, but they got moved out again."

Rachel and Janet looked at each other. _A month ago._

"What were their names?"

"Trixie and Leanne."


	8. Day 23 and 30

**Hello! I have finally finished this chapter! Thank you all for reading and please let me know what you think after, good or bad. Enjoy :)**

**N xxx**

**p.s. this one is quite dark - sorry!**

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><p><strong>Day 23<strong>

Janet lets out a quiet sigh. Typical her to wake up early. The room is pitch black so it must be about one or two o'clock. Her head throbs and she lifts a shaky hand to it. She wasn't sure what was the biggest cause of her physical symptoms was anymore - malnourishment, despair or the longing to see her children again. Every time they crossed her mind her heart ached and her stomach went cold and her fists clenched in frustration. But soon after this came the feelings of despair. The feelings that there is no escape, that there is no hope, that they were going to die here. She was more certain that they were going to die now Annex had arrived in their cell. It now seemed more organised than they'd first thought. God knows how many other people they have locked up. The hopelessness washes over Janet and she wonders if it would be better just to end things now. Though that would be hopeless too, as they still only had a jug of water, about a third of a loaf of bread and Rachel's spare key. Hardly suicide weapons.

Janet almost jumps as she feels a hand on her knee.

"Rach? Are you awake?" She whispers. "You made me jump."

No reply.

Before she realises what's happening he is on her, one hand digging into her shoulder painfully and the other across her mouth. She starts to struggle. Her teeth clench together on his hand and he lets out a yelp. She tries to push him off her.

CRACK

His heavy fist collides with her cheek, knocking her backwards. She groans, spitting out blood and a couple of teeth. Unable to get up now, the man resumes his assault. The next hours are a blur to Janet. Each time she thinks it just might be over, it starts again. She guessed there was more than one person but wasn't completely sure. Sometimes they just hit her when she tried to struggle, sometimes they just hit her for the sake of it. She could feel her face swelling up, blood dripping from her mouth and forehead. It ends for her when her consciousness finally slips away.

-x-x-x-

Rachel groans as the light in Blue Room flickers on. She shields her eyes, squinting. The same thoughts cross her mind as every morning. Where am I? Am I dead? I'll try go towards the light. Oh, I'm still here. Damn.

She feels next to her for Janet.

"I'm over here Rach," Janet's muffled voice comes from across the room. As Rachel looks over her heart sinks. Not again. It seemed worse this time though. Her face was swollen so much her eyes could only just open. Dried blood almost covered her entire face and her hair was streaked with red. Her hair was shorter too. They must have cut it. And the worst bit for Rachel was the state of Janet's thighs. They were black with bruises, so many they all blended into one. She crawls over to her friend and pulls her into her arms.

Janet's body shakes as she sobs quietly. She aches all over and her face is numb. Rachel rocks her back and forth soothingly. Images of what Janet must have gone through flash through her head and tears begin to roll down her cheeks. She lifts Janet's chin so she would look at her.

"I wish I could stop all this happening," she whispers. "It breaks my heart to see you like this." She places a soft kiss on Janet's lips. Annex appears behind them with the jug of water.

"Here," she says softly, lifting the jug to Janet's lips. "Take a good drink of that then we'll get you cleaned up." Janet takes a sip then Annex pours some in the palm of her hand and starts to rub the blood from Janet's face.

"Don't use that," Rachel says sharply. "That's all we have!"

"It's ok, they change it," Annex replies calmly.

"What?" Rachel says, confused. "There was a note when we got here. It said this was all we were having.,

"I know, I had a note too," Annex says, gently rubbing Janet's forehead. "But mine ran out and the next day I had a new one. And the same has happened every other time I've run out since. It's just food they don't replace."

Rachel looks at Janet and they both smile at each other. Thank god. No more rationing water. That would definitely help with the hunger. They could fill up on water. Rachel lifts the jug and takes a huge gulp then hands it to Janet so she could have some more.

-x-x-x-

"Do you know anything more about what's happening here?" Rachel asks Annex quietly.

"What do you mean?" Annex whispers back.

"I mean like who's involved, how many people are captive here, stuff like that."

Annex thinks for a moment. "I think I've counted about twenty different blokes when I've been… out… and I'm pretty sure there's only three cells. This one, my one and Trixie and Leanne's." So there must only be two, Rachel thinks.

"And have you seen anyone you recognise? Or know of any reason why this is happening?" Rachel knew she had to ask all this now, whilst Janet was sleeping, as by tomorrow Annex probably wouldn't be here.

"No, no one I recognise. Though, I have met the fella who is supposedly the brains behind it all."

"What?"

"They just call him 'D'. I only actually saw him by accident. I tried to leg it once when I was out and he was in the next room. He's a strong bloke. Tall too. With awful, evil, blue eyes," she visibly shudders. Rachel looks down at Janet and tenderly strokes her hair. Her face looked a bit better now they had cleaned it up. Rachel didn't want to think about what, if their theory was right, Annex would be going through in a few hours time. It made her feel sick. She was just a child. She lets her mind wander to what the MIT might be doing right now, and wether they were still thinking about them.

* * *

><p><strong>Day 30<strong>

Gill Murray rubs the sleep from her eyes. She felt around for her phone and eventually found it.

"Gill Murray."

"Sorry to bother you at this hour," it was the chief con. "But I thought you should know about this one straight away."

"Yeah," Gill half yawned. "I'm listening."

"We found a kid a few hours ago. Female, early teens. Looks like the same MO as the Bathurst and McLeanard murders."

Gill's heart speed up. "Well, sir, thanks for bringing this to my attention, I'll be in right away."

"There's something else."

"What is it?" Gill starts to get out of bed.

"She was wearing a necklace we know to be your DC's, Janet Scott."

-x-x-x-

Elise Scott sits alone on her school bus. No one spoke to her these days, they didn't know what to say. What do you say to a girl whose mother is presumed dead? The bus pulls up outside her house and she makes a quick exit, stopping only to mutter 'thanks' to the driver.

"Gran?" She shouts as she opens the door. No answer. She can't be in yet. She goes through to the kitchen and pours herself a glass of coke. As she looks around, she spots an envelope on the table with her name written on it. She picks it up. No stamp. It must've been hand delivered. She tears it open and gasps. The envelope is full of hair, blonde hair, the same as her mother's. She notices a small piece of paper and lifts it out.

Do what I ask and your mother will have a chance of living.

Tell the police and she will die instantly.

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><p><strong>Please review! They keep me motivated to write more :) x<strong>


	9. Day 36 and 43

**Hiya! I'm well proud of myself at the moment for updating so often! (Well, often for me anyway) I think it's because I'm so excited about series 3 I can hardly contain myself :D I should do ok with this story from now on as I have redone all my planning (I lost my original plan, I'll probably find it once I've finished this) so I know what's what again :) **

**Anyway, enjoy the latest chapter, thanks for all the lovely reviews so far. I really like knowing what you're all thinking about it :D**

**N xxx**

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><p>As soon as Janet opens her eyes she knows that someone has been in their cell overnight. She recognises the taste in her mouth, a side effect of whatever their captors used to knock them out whilst they came in the Blue Room either to take one of them out or, more recently, to refill their water.<p>

Rachel must have been thinking the same as Janet as she sits up frantically. "Janet? Are you ok?" She asks, panicked.

"I'm fine Rach," Janet replies, sitting up too. "Are you ok?"

"Fine," Rachel smiles with relief. She looks over at their jug of water and her smile widens. "It was just the water."

Janet reaches over and gives her friend's arm a squeeze and they both crawl over to the jug to have a drink and take a square centimetre of bread for their breakfast. They were now down to a mere four slices of bread, on three of which green mould had begun to grow.

Although she'd never say it out loud, Janet couldn't wait for the day they ran out of food as that would mean they knew, if Annex was right, exactly when they were getting out of here. And if she was really honest she wasn't overly fussed whether they were killed or not as long as they got out of here. She couldn't stand it. She couldn't stand the agony of waking up and immediately wondering if her best friend had been assaulted through the night. She couldn't stand going to sleep not knowing if she would wake up underneath a faceless predator. She knew they were going to die so why prolong their suffering?

"Jan, what's that around your neck?" Rachel interrupts her thoughts. Janet feels her neck and her fingers touch a necklace of some sort.

"I'll take it off so you can see it," Rachel says, crawling behind Janet and unfastening the necklace. Janet gasps. She feels as if she's been winded. Her eyes fill with hot tears and she lets out a wail.

"It's Elise's."

-x-x-x-

"G'night ma'am," Pete, the last person in the office, calls to Gill. She nods in reply and he gives her a halfhearted smile before leaving. She goes back into her office, closing the door firmly behind her. Her door had been closed a lot recently. She was getting tired of the constant bad news and preferred to just shut it all out. She felt safe in her office. It was the only place she could go at the moment without people constantly asking her how she was and if they had any leads yet. People could ask the stupidest questions sometimes. She felt like screaming at everyone that if she had a lead she would be out there fucking following it up, not stuck in here with tossers like them. But she refused to lose her cool in front of people as that would just bring in more questions and she just couldn't be arsed with them.

She hears the phone on Mitch's desk ringing and gets up to answer it.

"Gill Murray," she says, perching on the edge of the desk.

"Gill!" Says the chirpy voice on the other end of the phone. "Oliver Brock here, how you holding up?"

She lets out a deep breath. "Not bad. Yourself?"

"Yeah, I'm doing good thanks. My Fi's expecting. God help me - a Grandad at forty two!"

She laughs. "What do you want then?"

His voice assumes a business-like tone. "I was looking for your DC - Ian Mitchell."

"He's gone home. I've let them all have an early night."

"Oh. Well I did the postmortem on Annex Wilson this afternoon. She died of shock, not blood loss. I've concluded the reason of this is that she was so weak that her organs shut down before she'd lost enough blood for that to be a cause of death. She had lost a lot of blood but unlike McLeanard and Bathurst the wound didn't penetrate the carotid artery."

"Do you think it's still the same person though?" Gill asks.

"Without a doubt. Everything else was the same. Raped, pre and postmortem, Vitamin D deficiency, and starved. Her BMI was 13.8. I've never done a PM on anyone with a BMI below 15 before. McLeanard and Bathurst's were 15.7 and 16.3, but I think Wilson was held longer than them going by the date she was last seen. Also," he sighs and Gill can hear the sound of him running a hand across his face. "The condition of her uterus suggests she recently miscarried."

Gill groans. "I think I should be the one to go through the PM report with the mother," she says. "Poor, poor woman. It's enough that her child was violently raped and murdered. But this." She shakes her head. "And we don't even have any fucking leads."

"That's actually the main reason I called," he says. "All of the bodies were scrubbed before they were dumped, but on this one it seems they missed a bit. We found a partial fingerprint on the back of her right knee. We don't know who it belongs to but five years ago we found a matching fingerprint on the body of a woman in Salford. She'd been raped and tortured for 2-5 days then murdered. It sounds like the same bloke."

"Ok, I'll get my team on it tomorrow. Who was the SIO? I'll need to speak to them."

He laughs. "You'll have fun with this. It was Dave."

She rolls her eyes. "Oh joy. I'll speak to you later. Don't forget to forward me your report once you typed it up. Ta-ta."

-x-x-x-

**Day 43**

Rachel closes her eyes and tries to go to a happy place. Janet had been teaching her some coping strategies to help whilst they were out, though it was near impossible to concentrate when you actually need it. She had been laying on this cold, scratchy carpet for what felt like days now, though she expected it had only been about seven hours or so.

In the past when she had spoken to victims of repeated abuse and they had described how after a while they just got used to it and how, though it was still horrific, it almost became normal she had never been able to understand. One girl she had spoken to described it as similar to getting her period - it was awful but she just accepted that it was going to happen - but still she just didn't see how something like this could ever be part of someone's everyday life. But now she did understand and it made her feel sick.

She feels a damp rag being pushed into her mouth and knows that for tonight it is all over. Her head begins to cloud and her vision blurs. Her head lolls to the side and through her hazy vision she sees a man stood in the doorway. She doesn't know who he is, but knows straight away that she recognises him.

"D! What are you doing in here?"

-x-x-x-

As soon as Rachel opens her eyes she rushes over to Janet. She steadies herself against the wall for a moment, regretting sitting up so fast, then grabs Janet by both shoulders and gives her a shake.

Janet is alert immediately. "Oh god Rach what's happened? Are you ok?" Her eyes are wide with concern. She sees Rachel's fresh bruises and split lip and pulls her into a hug.

"No, Jan, it's not that," she pulls away to look Janet in the face. "When I went out I saw D and I recognised him!"

"What?" Janet shakes her head in confusion. "What? Who's D?"

"He's the big bollocks behind it all. I saw him and he's definitely someone I've seen before."

"What? Who?"

"I don't know," Rachel says, her speech is fast and her breathing quick. She puts both hands on her forehead. "I don't know. I only saw him when I'd been drugged to come back here so it was blurry. But I just know that I know him from somewhere."

"How do you know that he's behind it all?" Janet says, leaning back against the wall, the hope she had begun to feel fading fast.

"Annex told me. She said she met him once when she tried to leg it," Rachel frowns, squeezing her hands together in thought, trying to remember how she had described him. "She said him was a big bloke - strong and tall - and he had really blue eyes… I don't think she said anything else. But Jan, if he's someone I know then eventually they will get round to him. And when they do, we'll be saved!"

Janet smiles sadly. "Rach, even if they do get him, it doesn't mean we're free. You've said it yourself, there's a lot of people involved here. They will have got Bilson by now and we're still here. We've got to be realistic, yeah?"

Rachel's face falls and her eyes are teary. "Yeah," she says, her voice thick.

"Come here," Janet says softly, her own eyes beginning to sting. She lifts her arm and Rachel dives under it, a sob escaping her lips. "This isn't forever Rach," she whispers, placing a tender kiss on Rachel's forehead. "We are getting out of here. It's just whether we get out alive or not that's the problem." A tear rolls down her cheek and drips onto Rachel's hair.

Rachel clings to Janet with all the energy she's got. "I don't want to die," she whimpers.

"I know," Janet hugs her tight. "Neither do I, not really. But we have to accept that it's a possibility and see that if we do die, at least it's not this."

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><p><strong>Please review as it keeps me motivated to write more :) xx<strong>


	10. Day 48 and 54

**Hi! This chapter was so difficult for me to write! I think I would do better as a script writer as I find it really hard to describe emotions and reactions and things but I've tried my best! I really hope you enjoy this chapter :)**

**Love**

**N xxx**

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><p>"MUMMY! MUMMY PLEASE TAKE ME HOME! MUMMY!"<p>

Grace Pindles screams on the top of her voice. She had been lost for what felt like hours now. She only meant to run away long enough for them to stop shouting but when it was time to go back she couldn't find the way. It was getting cold, her skin was going blue and her tears had gone hard on her cheeks. When she looked up through the trees she could see the moon in the darkening sky.

"Never go out on your own when you can see the moon," her father's words echoed in her mind. "Bad things happen at night and I don't want them to happen to you."

She had nodded and never set foot outside in the dark again without someone being with her. She always knew that when her dad told her something it was true. But now, without intending to, she had disobeyed him and just thinking about how disappointed he would be in her made her eyes fill up with more tears.

She's just about to change direction when an engine grumbles directly in front of her. She stops dead, making sure she'd heard right, then races towards it. After running about thirty metres she comes to a road. She looks around for the source of the noise and sees a car. As she opens her mouth to shout for help she registers the tall, dark haired man bent over the open boot of the car, the soft groan of a woman and a bloody hand dangling out of the boot. She tries to stop herself but its too late. The sound is out.

Run.

-x-x-x-

Elise waits outside the school gates. Gill never was a reliable source of transport, even when she didn't have a big case. They had agreed to talk in the car, to make it look like she was simply helping out by picking Elise up from school, as Elise was paranoid that she was being watched. And it had got to the point where she couldn't deal with it on her own any more and the only trustable person she could tell was Gill.

More minutes pass and finally Gill pulls up beside her.

"Sorry I'm late cock," Gill says as Elise climbs in. "Pissing review team insisted on a meeting to make sure everyone's on the same page and it turned out everyone was on different chapters! So I had the joy of having to go over the whole investigation so everyone knew exactly what has gone on so far. How was school?"

"Alright," Elise says unsteadily. Nerves are starting to bubble in the stomach and her heart is pounding as she wonders whether she is doing the right thing. They drive in silence for a while.

"Do you want some food?" Gill asks, pulling into the car park of a little roadside cafe. "I'm starving."

"I'm on a diet," Elise says.

"No you're not," Gill says. "There's nothing on you. What're you having?"

Elise sighs. "I'll just have whatever you're having."

Gill gets out of the car and returns ten minutes later with two bacon rolls. She passes Elise one and starts on her own. Once she's finished hers she puts her seatbelt on and resumes driving Elise home. When Elise has finished her food she speaks.

"So kid, what was it you wanted to talk to me about?" Gill spoke in a way that was kind but professional and invited confidence, making Elise sure she could trust her. She takes a deep breath, then begins.

"A couple of weeks ago I got a letter. I would have told you sooner, but it said if I told the police that mum would die instantly so I kept it to myself but I can't anymore." She looks over at Gill for a reaction. Gill just nods slowly, keeping her eyes on the road.

"So… what was in this letter?" Her eyebrow knit together in concentration as she takes in Elise's words.

"Some of my mum's hair. At least I think it was hers. It said that if I did as it said that she would have a greater chance of surviving."

"And what did it say?"

"It said I was to leave something valuable under the bench in the park. Something that mum would recognise as mine."

"Have you still got the letter?" Gills asks, a plan of action forming in her head.

"Yeah. You can't show it anyone though. I can't risk anyone finding out I've told. They'll kill her!" Tears form in Elise's eyes as she raises her voice.

"Don't worry," Gill is quick to reassure her. "Do you remember Lee Broadhurst? Who works in my syndicate with your mother?" Elise nods. "He has forensic training so if I get him to fingerprint the letter and get a DNA sample from the hair to make sure it's definitely genuine, it will just stay between me and him. No one else will be involved."

Elise hesitates. "Are you sure he won't tell anyone?"

"Hundred percent," she replies. "If I don't do anything with this the investigation could suffer. There could be something on that letter that will lead us to where your mum is, or who took her. But I promise I won't tell anyone except Lee."

Elise sighs then nods, putting her head in her hands. "I don't want her to die," she says softly. "Or Rachel."

"I know," Gill says, reaching over and giving Elise's shoulder a comforting squeeze. "I don't want them to die either and we're doing the best we can - half the force is out looking for them! But you know that it's not looking good and that they may already or soon be dead. I don't want you to be unprepared for if that happens."

Elise closes her eyes tight, wanting to shut out all the unbearable feelings that were running through her. How could this be happening to her? Her mother was meant to be the one solving the crimes, not the victim of them.

When they get back to the house Gill goes inside for five minutes to say hello to Dorothy, then Elise takes her upstairs to give her the letter.

As Gill puts it in her bag Elise asks a question that's been bugging her all day.

"Do you think it could be an inside job?"

Gill stops, taken aback. "It's not impossible," she says after a couple of minutes consideration. "But it's more likely that you've been watching too much telly. Try not to worry too much about daft things like that. On a case this high profile it would be extremely difficult for a police officer to hide what they were doing as most of the people around them would suspect something."

Elise nods. "I'm just trying to figure out some reason why they haven't been found yet."

Gill smiles sadly. "I know, kid," she says, and looks at her watch. "I'll get off. Give my love to Tasie and if you get any more post tell me as soon as! I'll tell you if we get any leads from this one as soon as I know." She goes out of Elise's room and down the stairs. She shouts goodbye to Dorothy and then she's gone.

-x-x-x-

**Day 54**

As Janet's consciousness returns she knows immediately what's happening. She recognises the smell of the room and the scratchy carpet beneath her. She closes her eyes to keep the tears from flowing, waiting for the attack to begin. She decided after last time that she wouldn't kick off anymore, she wouldn't give them the satisfaction. She would just wait for it to be over and try and take her mind to some place better than here.

Her heart thumps harder and harder as she listens to the footsteps coming into the room and she is unable to stop herself wincing. She is frozen still for half a minute or more before a soft whimper makes her realise what's really going on here.

Her stomach drops and she can feel bile rising in her throat. It takes her a moment to gather the courage to open her eyes because when she does it makes it real, but she knows she has to try and stop it.

She opens her eyes and anger explodes inside her, tears stream down her face and she launches herself at the masked man about to violate her best friend. Her fist collides with his jaw with a satisfying crunch and he falls to the ground as several other men pounce on her and drag her to the other side of the room. The man she floored gets back up with a snarl and resumes his position on top of Rachel. All Janet can hear as she struggles against the four men holding her down is Rachel's soft sobs and cries of pain.

She howls with the agony of not being able to help her friend. It is like her heart has been ripped out of her chest - it physically hurts. She screams and screams until her throat is raw and no sound comes out. The hours pass slower than ever and by the time the damp cloth is pushed into Janet's mouth she feels numb and can think only one thing.

This has to end.

-x-x-x-

The second Janet opens her eyes she knows what she has to do. She'd been thinking it for weeks and now she couldn't take any more. She crawls determinedly over to where their bread was kept and stuffs one slice into her mouth.

"Janet?" Rachel's dazed voice comes from a couple of metres away. "What are you doing?"

"We can't go on like this. I can't stand it any longer," Janet says fiercely, tears stinging her eyes once more. "We eat this - we know we're getting out. We know we only have nine days left of this."

"But we're not getting out - we'll die!" Rachel cries. "You can't seriously do this Janet!"

"Dying's better than this," Janet sobs. "I can't do it Rach. I can't put up with this torture when I know we're going to die anyway. Why go though it?"

"Because they still might find us!"

"Open your eyes Rachel! They're not going to find us. It's hopeless. We're not going to survive this."

Rachel stares at her friend, devastated by her words, her eyes full of tears threatening to spill onto her cheeks. Janet sighs and smiles weakly, holding the last slice of bread to Rachel.

"Eat it," Janet says softly, her voice thick.

Rachel gazes down at the bread and doesn't speak for a couple of minutes, her stomach growling hungrily. She looks back up to Janet and shakes her head, her bottom lip trembling uncontrollably.

"I can't give up on us," she whispers, broken.

Janet looks at her sadly. "I'm sorry. I have to do this Rach. It's the only way."

With that she stuffs the remaining slice of bread into her mouth and all their food is gone.

Nine days.

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><p><strong>Please review! I'd love to know what you think and it really boosts my motivation :) xx<strong>


	11. Day 59

**Sorry this update took so long! I've been away. The next one should be quicker because I'm quite excited about writing it :D but I am starting school soon so that might affect things but hopefully not too much! Yeah so enjoy!**

**Love**

**N xxx**

* * *

><p>Janet holds Rachel's hair back as she retches and coughs up the mouthful of water she had consumed only ten minutes ago. Neither of them had kept down a thing for days. They were only having small amounts of water at a time and drinking it more frequently to try and keep hydrated, but Janet could see it wasn't doing much good. As the days went on Rachel got weaker and so did she. Just to hold up her head felt like lifting a train and her movements were slow and heavy. Rachel looked horrific. Her already skeletal limbs now seemed to show every bone in her body, her eyes were sunken and surrounded by dark bags and every time her stomach growled she groaned in pain.<p>

When Rachel was done she flopped backwards to rest on Janet's shoulder. They never broke contact anymore; they were too weak to. They needed each other for everything from keeping warm to holding up the water jug. Since Janet had eaten the last of their food they hadn't spoke much, they only said when they wanted a drink or thought they were going to be sick. That was it. Rachel wasn't sure if it was because she was mad at Janet or they just didn't talk because they hadn't the energy to. When she really thought about it, she didn't blame Janet for what she did. It wasn't like she hadn't thought about it. There were a number of times when she had wanted to suggest it but couldn't bring herself to because that would mean giving up. Her biggest fear was that they would die and the next day the team would find the evidence to rescue them. And they would be too late.

Janet puts an arm around Rachel's waist and pulls her close. The room seemed to be getting colder and colder by the hour though Janet knew they just felt that because they were so malnourished. She just kept telling herself they only had four days left. Four days. She was terrified. All she could do now was hope that they were rescued in time. But time was running out.

-x-x-x-

Gill rubs her eyes tiredly. All these sleepless nights were really catching up on her. She yawns as she clicks away furiously at the case files on her computer. It just didn't make sense. This case didn't make sense. She'd had cases before where there had been no decent leads but this one just felt wrong. They should have a billion and one leads. They knew one of the people involved and that should give them something. A trace of DNA, an accomplice, an address. But they had nothing. Even the letter Elise was sent had no fingerprints or anything they could trace on it. They were well and truly stuck.

There is a knock at her office door and she looks around. It's Dave. She sighs.

"Come in," she says with false politeness, removing her glasses. He shuts the door behind him and sits down in the chair opposite her desk. "What's up?"

"How are you doing?" He asks.

"Still no leads. We've extended the house to house to the next village on from where we found Annex and-"

"I meant how are you yourself doing," he cuts in. She looks at him carefully, trying to work out his motive for this sudden personal question.

"I'm fine thank you," she responds eventually. Dave looks at her and takes a deep breath.

"I spoke to the Chief Con today," he starts. Gill narrows her eyes. "We think that it's time your team moved onto another case."

"No. Thank you. We'll be staying on this case," Gill says forcefully.

"We are handing the case over to another syndicate. This isn't healthy for you or your team, working on the kidnap and possible murder of your own officers. I can see the effect it's having on you."

"Thanks for your concern but we really are doing fine," Gill says, her stomach churning. She didn't want to give the case to another syndicate. What if they weren't as skilled or as hard working as her team? What if the investigation suffered because of that?

"Well the decision has been made. You're to hand this over to syndicate eight and then your team will be assisting DCI Dodson's syndicate with their current investigation. Since its such a high profile case it's felt that two syndicates should be working on it rather than one."

Gill sighs heavily. She found it funny and disturbing at the same time how every time she spoke to her ex husband her hatred for him grew stronger and stronger. "Fine," she says, folding her arms. "Though I want daily updates from them and if anything kicks off I want to know about it immediately."

He gets up and heads for the door. "I'll pass it on."

As soon as he's gone she grabs her phone and calls Julie to get what she needs to know about her case.

"Morning," Julie answers the phone.

"Hiya slap," Gill says, a small smile crossing her face as she hears her friend's voice. "My syndicate's been called in to help you out with your case since you can't manage on your own. Grace Pindles, isnt it? What's the latest?"

"We've got a body. She's not been identified yet but we think it's her. The parents have been told."

"Right. What do you want us to do then?" Gill asks, scribbling on a post-it on her desk.

"House-to-house?" Julie suggests. "I'm not sure how much we'll get from that though. It doesn't look premeditated. All her wounds appear random and frenzied. My boys are onto CCTV and the PM is this afternoon if you want to sit in."

"I might as well," Gill says. "I've nothing on. I'll catch up with you later. Ta ta cock."

-x-x-x-

Kevin and Mitch trudge up to the last house on their list. It quite a large property and looks like it could have been quite grand when it was first built. Kevin bangs the huge knocker on the front door and they both wait patiently for the door to open.

The man that appears before them is small and rough looking, much like the other residents of this area. The jeans and shirt he is wearing give the impression he is a handyman of some sort and his expression is kind and harmless.

"DC Lumb, DC Mitchell. We're making enquiries about a body found a couple of miles from here. Can we come in?"

The man stands to the side and leads them into the sitting room. It is a small room with a dirty looking rug in between two saggy sofas. Kevin and Mitch go about asking their questions and leave, never noticing the agonised sobbing coming from under their seats.

* * *

><p><strong>Please please please review! It really helps keep me motivated! :)xx<strong>


	12. Day 62 and 63

**So I finally managed to type up this next chapter, a year and a half later (sorry about that). I suddenly got inspiration for this so I just sat down and types for three hours and here it is! As always, reviews are much appreciated. I'll try get the next chapter of this up ASAP, but you know, A levels. **

**Enjoy!**

**N xxx**

Day 62

_Red. It was all around them. No escape. Blood red. Danger. _

Janet's immediate thought was that someone had kicked the shit out of her again and her eyes were closed up with blood, but after blinking a few times she realised that they were in a different room. The walls were painted bright red, a shocking contrast to the pale blue of their previous room. It was almost eerie, the faint glow of the paint and the resemblance it had to fresh blood. The colour contrast was beginning to make her feel disorientated and she closed her eyes again, fighting off a wave of nausea.

A couple of minutes passed and she reached out a shaky hand to feel Rachel next to her. She made a croaky grunt at the contact, but didn't move. Janet opened her eyes again and saw her friend lying in a sorry heap on the floor. Her emaciated legs were tangled beneath her and she was lying face down with a cheek resting on the cold cement of their cell. Janet sat up slowly to untuck her friend's limbs for under her so that she was lying more comfortably. She was in a deep state of unconsciousness, and Janet's heart pounded as she felt for a very weak but definitely there pulse. A shuffling sound from the other side of the room reminded her that they wouldn't be alone in this cell.

She turned around and flopped back so that she was resting against the wall. Across the room were two dark-haired women gaping at them like they had never seen another human being before. She gave them both a weary smile and introduced herself.

"I'm Cynthia," the taller woman said drowsily. "Cyd. This is Tamzin." She nodded down to her friend, huddled up beside her like a frightened child.

Janet looked sadly at the young women. They couldn't have been much older than late teens and to see people reduced to this was always something Janet struggled with. Seeing people, victims, and seeing the emptiness and eternal exhaustion with life left behind by their perpetrators made her heart ache and her eyes sting. It was the same thing that had happened to Annex, Rachel, and presumably Trixie and Leanne too, and now it was happening to them. Her natural copper's urge to prevent and protect came rushing into her veins and she held back tears as she realised she couldn't act on it. She wasn't a copper anymore. She was a victim.

"Why are you here?" Cyd asked quietly, her face pale, eyes sunken, face blackened with mascara and eye makeup.

"We were captured, like you," Janet diverted. She didn't want to think about the question she had really asked. Why are you in this cell?

"Yeah," Cyd bit her lip, eyes watery and forehead creasing as she fought back tears. "Have you been her long?"

It took Janet a few moments to process an answer. Malnourishment and trauma were slowing her brain functions and it hurt her head to think. "Sixty-two days now, I think. We were keeping tally in our other cell but-" she waved her bony hands around her "- now we're here."

"We've only been here about a fortnight," Cyd said so softly it was almost a whisper. "We were on a night out, got in a taxi, next thing we're here."

Janet looked down at Tamzin. She too had black mascara smudged across her face, but underneath this was the dark purples of a black eye and Janet thought she could see a scrap of dried blood on her hairline. Just one look downwards told Janet that she had been attacked by the men and she winced in pain and sadness. Poor girl.

"How old are you?" Janet asks, trying to avert the subject.

"Nineteen," Cyd replied. "Both of us."

Janet grimaced sadly. They had their whole lives ahead of them.

Suddenly, the sound of Rachel gagging startled her and she quickly grabbed her hair and rolled her on her side.

One more day.

-x-x-x-

Gill sat distractedly at Julie Dodson's meeting table. She was sat close to her friend, close enough to feel the heat radiating from her body, but she still felt empty and alone and helpless. As the rest of the team went over the grisly details of the Grace Pindles case, all she could think of was Rachel and Janet and how she could be pushing to make a difference in their case now had she not been pushed out by her bastard ex-husband. Twat.

She was brought back to the current situation by the shrill ring of Julie's phone. She excused herself and stepped outside to answer it, gesturing to Gill to take over.

Gill took in a deep breath. "Right. So. Grace Pindles. We know that she wasn't taken, she was killed on the spot. Blunt force trauma is the main cause of death as she his her head on that rock," she points to a crime scene photo. "However, she was slashed three times with a sharp blade across her body. The first on her right arm, presumably in self defence, the second on her cheek and the last one at the base of her neck. This seems frenzied, unplanned. What caused this? Why did a little girl near a nice, isolated country road suddenly become so much of a threat that somebody did this to her? Or did she do nothing? Was she just in the wrong place at the wrong time when the wrong person turned up? Mitch, did you do a background check on the parents?"

Mitch looks up from his notes. "Yeah, nothing of interest there. They're both well-liked, quiet, no record, no reason for anyone to target them. We've checked the wider family too. Nothing."

"Right," Gill said, getting more into the rally of things now. "So what did happen? Who could possibly have a reason for hurting her?"

The room was quiet for a moment until Pete spoke up. "Maybe she witnessed something and they had to shut her up. You said it was a isolated countryside property, she was found near one of the roads, maybe someone was up to something there that they shouldn't have been. Drugs drop maybe?"

"Yes, possibly. But she was just a little girl. What little girl would see a couple of fellers hanging round swapping parcels and think drugs? Unless we're talking about some serious organised criminals here. Someone ruthless, relentless, psychopathic even. I mean-" Julie crashed back in and beckoned Gill to come into the corridor with her.

"What's up?" Gill asks once outside, lowering her voice a little.

Julie sighs. "That was forensics back from Grace's body. They found a partial thumbprint on her left arm, which we can assume was from grabbing her. Anyway, they put it through and they found a match on the system. No one special, just some low life dickhead that had a drink driving conviction twenty odd years ago, probably doesn't even know his prints are on file. I'll get some of the lads to drop round his place and arrest him, and I'll apply for a search warrant."

"That's great," Gill beamed. "Finally we've got something. Why'd couldn't you say that in front of them?"

Julie held her breath for a moment, then spoke. "The wound analysis came back. They've..." She hesitated. "They found some DNA matching that of Annex Wilson in there. They think it could have been the same knife."

Gill's stomach dropped and she gasped in shock. Julie reached out a hand and squeezed her friend's arm comfortingly. "The most important thing is that we've now got a lead for the Rachel and Janet investigation. Just don't get your hopes up too high."

Gill nodded and took a moment to compose herself before then both re-entered the meeting room. Julie quickly repeated the information that she'd just relayed to Gill.

"Right, Evan. I want you and Matt to go now and arrest John Dennings. It's The Old Farm, Whitby Lane. I'll get that search warrant sorted."

"Wait," Kevin piped up. "Whitby Lane? Me and Mitch went there on house to house for Rach and Janet."

Gill's heart stopped. "And the house?"

"We didn't think much of it, it just looked like he'd been refurbishing the place. There wasn't much about, most rooms were empty. It didn't even really look like he lived there."

Julie and Gill quickly turned to each other before Julie's authoritative shout came.

"We need to get round there now."

-x-x-x-

Day 63

Today was a bad day, and the mood was low. Neither Rachel or Janet could muster up the energy to lift themselves off the floor. It would be uncomfortable, but they had both become accustomed to it's cold hard surface and almost took comfort in it now. Anything was better than the scratchy carpet of the room they were taken to when they went 'out'. The thought of horrors to come filled Janet's mind and clenched at her heart. She couldn't really believe this was the end. She had always thought of her death being one of peace. Old age, perhaps having suffered a long illness, but still no less of an old lady. She would be surrounded by her family. Kids, grandkids, great-grandkids. Then she would slip away. Maybe in some ways this was similar to that. The acceptance, the long struggles, the inevitability. But it couldn't be peaceful. She was too young. Rach was too young. And although she had almost given up, she still had that scrap of hope that something would get them out of this.

She was brought out of her thoughts by Rachel groaning beside her, and her gut was instantly filled with regret. Since she had eaten the last of their food they hadn't spoken much and now Janet was beginning to feel guilt at how she had brought her friend to her death. She turned on her side groggily to face Rachel, who was facing her with half closed eyes.

"Rach," Janet whispered, reaching out an unsteady hand to tuck her hair behind her ear. "Rach, I'm so sorry." Tears were beginning to fall across her cheeks onto the floor.

"S'alright Jan," Rachel slurred. "I just want this to be over. I'm glad you did it really. I'm just so tired and it hurts so much." A sob escaped her lips and Janet herself was crying now too.

"I don't want to die," Janet whispered, and reached across to pull her friend close to her. She had to feel her, to have that last contact with her. She had to take a last lungful of her scent, a last glimpse of her eyes, a last taste of her lips. She loved this woman more than she ever thought she could feel and just as it was beginning it was going to end. Her heart was aching and she pulled Rachel as close to her as her wasted muscles could muster, whispering apologies and unsaid feelings into her ear as their tears mingled into one. The next thing the light clicked off, and now they were both trembling in each other's arms at the fear of what was to come, and wondering if they would wake up in the morning.

-x-x-x-

Gill tightly gripped the side of the car door as her and Julie sped at sixty miles-per-hour though the streets of Manchester. The suspect's house was on the other side of the city, and they had set off as soon as the search warrant came through. John Dennings was already in custody and the house had been cordoned off by uniforms waiting for forensics. But Gill didn't have time for that. She had to get in there and tear the place apart until she found them. If she wasn't already too late.

As the car screeched up the pavement outside the house Life-On-Mars style, Gill's heart was in her throat and she felt Julie give her hand a quick squeeze in support, letting her know she was not alone.

They rush out of the car, not even bothering to close the door, and march up the front steps into the house. It was already bustling with uniform, pulling up carpets, lifting furniture, barking orders to each other.

"I found something!" One man shouted and Gill's heart almost stopped as she rushed to where He was searching. As she came into the room he was prising open the lock on a trap door in the centre of the wooden flooring, presumably covered by the large rug that was rolled up next to the sofa.

With a large crack the PC finally broke the lock from the door and Gill hurriedly threw it open. Below them was darkness, and a distinct smell of human waste.

"Rachel! Janet!" Gill bellowed.

Suddenly she could hear a woman shrieking. No, more than one woman. Her heart soared. Her body relaxed for the first time in months.

But as the young lad in the florescent yellow jacket shone his torch down the hatch, they saw not Rachel and Janet, but two young woman huddled together at the side of the room.

They were gone.

-x-x-x-

Blue. It was all she could see. Clouds passed over and Janet felt like she was floating. Then she felt the cool morning breeze on her bare skin and the shriek of her best friend brought her to her senses just in time to see a man coming towards her, wielding a large blade.

Her heart stopped.


	13. Clouds

**Another chapter! Check me out being all productive! Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter (not sure if that's the right way to put it) and please let me know how you find it. I'll try and get the next one up soon but I do have a hella lot of school work to be getting on with. **

**Loadsa love **

**N xxx**

-x-x-x-

Everything hurt. The flutter of her eyelids, the whirring of her brain, the blades of grass beneath her that may as well have been razors for the agony she felt. She didn't even have to cast a glance towards her bruised left arm to know that they had been drugged by more then just inhaling whatever it was that they knocked them out with this time. The natural light was a shock to her eyes and for moments the world was reduced to a bright white light and she thought that this was the end.

That was until her friend's blood-curdling screech brought her to her senses and she saw him. Saw the blade in his grasp. The hunger in his eyes. The hunger directed at her.

Her initial reaction was to close her eyes again. She was so desperately tired. This was a way out. The profound blood loss caused by severed arteries would have her unconscious in seconds, dead in minutes, and she felt that this was the inevitable, the end they were prepared for, the end to their suffering. An overcoming sense of calm washed over her like sunset waves and she felt almost content with what was to come. She was prepared for this.

As she half opened her eyes once more, she saw the man closer to her now. She recognised his face from wanted photographs, but her brain ached too much to put a name to it. She looked past him, into the sky, the clouds. _I'll be there soon_, she thought dreamily. It briefly crossed her mind that she was high, tripping on the drugs injected into her veins by her captors. Not that she particularly minded. A quiet ending. That's all she wanted. After all they'd been through, all she wanted was to be at peace.

The man dragged her up into a sitting position by one of her bony shoulders. She felt cold in the breeze and her skin was littered with goosebumps. He stood over her, tall and lean and smelling of petrol and tobacco. Janet screwed her nose up with revulsion at his scent. The situation was, to her, almost laughable as she was so terrified yet relieved at the same time and suddenly she felt very giddy.

But then she felt the cool steel at her jawline and all sense of amusement drained away with the blood from her head. She felt dizzy and sick and her heart was racing and she was cold, cold inside. Her senses heightened and she could feel every hair on her body stand up and see every pore on her attacker's cheeks, sense his breath on her throat. She was pinned against a tree near the edge of a small grassy clearing in what appeared to be a wood. The air was silent but for the wind breathing through the trees. No one could hear them. No one could save them.

As the blade began to press deeper into her flesh, she allowed her eyes to flicker shut. She breathed in deeply, trying to calm herself, trying not to scream. She wanted to think about her daughters, her family, the people she loved, but nothing could take her attention away from the searing pain she now felt as the knife began to pierce her skin. She could feel a warm trickle of blood run down her neck and she let out a whimper before she could manage to hold it back. This was it.

This was the end.

-x-x-x-

She was brought back into the world by a loud crack and a grunt. Her eyes flickered open. The first thing she saw was the knife-wielding man crouched in the soil, groaning and clutching a bloody head. Then she looked up to her emaciated best friend standing in front of her, eyes wild, chest heaving, rock in hand, reaching out for her manically.

"JANET FUCKING RUN!"

Rachel pulled her up with newfound adrenaline-powered strength and before Janet knew what was happening they were on their feet, hand in hand, tearing through the woods. They didn't know where they were, or where they were aiming to get, they just knew they had to run, run for their lives. They stumbled through nettles and fallen trees and weeds and twigs and they couldn't stop. Janet's feet were bleeding and her legs were burning and her chest was pounding but she didn't care, all she could think about was getting out, getting away, escaping with their lives. The killer could be following them, he could have accomplices waiting for them, he could be armed and ready to shoot them like pheasants.

They continued through the woods. Janet began to feel herself tiring a little and her neck stung as the morning air whipped against the freshly exposed tissue but she spurred herself on. It was only when Rachel dropped to the ground that she stopped.

She laughed gleefully. They had escaped. "Rach, Rach we did it," she gasped happily. "Rach we're free!"

Giggling like a schoolgirl, Janet grasped her friend by the shoulder and turned her to face her.

Her stomach dropped.

Rachel's eyes rolled back into the top of her head and her whole body began to tremble furiously. Her face was deathly blue and her lips stood out in stark contrast as rich blood began to trickle from her mouth.

Janet didn't know what to do, and in that moment she felt so helpless that she thought it would consume her, breathe her, leave her as functionless as her friend. What could she do? They were in the middle of a wood, presumably in the middle of nowhere, with no means of contacting anyone or finding any material that could be used for first aid. Her heart ached and her eyes stung. _No_.

She scooped Rachel's cold form up into her arms and continued running. Her wasted muscles were faltering and her own breathing had become erratic and she felt dizzy but she couldn't stop running. Desperate sobs were the only sounds that broke through that of her frantic footsteps. She had lost all sensation in the soles of her feet as she repeatedly trampled over rocks and branches and thorns and bits of broken glass. Her stomach heaved and she was certain she was going to vomit but she couldn't, she had to keep going, she had to try to get help for her best friend.

Rachel's body had now become limp in her arms and it felt like carrying a corpse. As Janet cast a quick glance down at her it stuck her how deathly her friend looked. Her face white, her lips tinted blue, a flash of red spilling down her lips and the cheekbones that almost pierced through her skin. These were images that would never leave her, she was certain of it. Even on her deathbed, she would still remember the look on her friend's face as she carried her hopelessly through the deep woods, she would remember the feeling of complete and absolute agony that crossed her and the gut-wrenching scream that escaped her lips as she lowered her to the ground to check her pulse, check her breaths. She would remember the thirty seconds of chest compressions, the two deep breaths, the listening for signs of life.

-x-x-x-

Gill sat impatiently at Cynthia's bedside. After their rescue, both her and Tamzin had needed sedating to get them in the ambulance. 'Traumatised' seemed too weak a word to use in this situation, but it was the only way Gill could think of to describe them. Cynthia looked a little better now that the nurse had wiped away her mascara and cleaned up her wounds, but her ordeal was no less apparent. The bandages on her face, the purple and yellow bruises under both eyes, the pained whimper as she shifted on the bed, returning to sluggish consciousness. Gill tried to slow the frantic tapping of her foot as the woman came around, not wanting to pressure her but feeling oh-so-desperate to squeeze some information out of her.

Minutes passed and Cynthia squinted at Gill through distant eyes. Gill was quick to introduce herself, to attempt to make the woman feel at ease. She make much of a reaction to her presence, most likely the effect of the sedatives. Her earlier hysterical screams and cries still haunted Gill's ears, and she had to quickly refocus on the task in hand and the fact that she was here as a professional to soothe the stinging in her eyes. _Please God let them be alive._

She started with the run-of-the-mill questions. Full name, date of birth, address. It took a short while, but eventually she managed to string the words together to form an answer. She asked about Tamzin, and Gill calmly updated her on her condition. Stable, sedated, safe. Then finally she could ask the real questions, the questions she needed the answers to.

Gill looks down at the photos in her trembling hands. They're creased about the edges where she's nervously fiddled with them whilst she waited for Cynthia to wake up. Taking a deep breath, she held them out to her.

"Do you recognise these women?" Gill asks, willing her voice to come out even. She held her breath for Cynthia's answer.

A tear rolled down the other woman's cheek as she nodded. "Yes," she whispers. "Oh god, they were so beautiful." She sobbed loudly.

Gill's insides twisted. _Were_.

"Do you know where they are now?" She asked steadily.

Cynthia shook her head. "They were with us. Before you came," she said shakily, her voice thick. "Just for a couple of days, but they said they'd been there a long time, just not with us. Then we went to sleep. You arrived. And they'd gone."

The woman was beginning to shake furiously now, her nails digging into her arms, and Gill wondered whether she should get the doctor. She placed a reassuring hand on Cynthia's, trying to guide her hands away from her flesh. "It's okay, you're doing really well. We will find them. But you're safe now, you don't need to worry."

-x-x-x-

The feeling of Rachel's soft breath on her cheek, her delicate pulse under her fingers, brought joy to Janet like never before. She let out a sigh of relief, sitting back on her heels and running a trembling hand through her matted hair. Her chest was heaving as she tried to listen for anyone on their tail, but it was impossible to tell over the sound of the wind in the trees and her own loud and erratic breaths.

She leaned over her friend and placed a relieved kiss on her forehead before again sweeping her up into her arms and sprinting in the opposite direction from which they had arrived. Her feet throbbed and stung as she went, her knees beginning to become weak through the agony.

She tried to remember a time that she had felt this much mental and physical pain. Of course, being stabbed came close but it was different. Then, it was her that was gravely injured. She didn't even need to think about anything, she just laid back as people rushed around her, too spaced out from the blood loss to care. Now, life or death was in her hands. She was the one running, she was the one that was aware of the situation, she was the one with the responsibility. Another wave of hopelessness washed over her as she realised she would never forgive herself if Rachel didn't come out of this. And how could she live without her? It would be bad enough losing her best friend, the best friend she was so helplessly in love with, but to live with the thought that if she had done something different, if she was different, then her friend's death could have been prevented was not something she could even bear thinking about, never mind living it.

A heavier sob burst out of her now as her thoughts sent her into a frantic spiral of despair. She couldn't breathe. It felt as if someone had dropped an anchor on her chest and her heart was being suffocated as she struggled for air. Her eyes stung as she choked on the air and she was sure she was going to throw up or pass out and her legs were wobbling beneath her more and more with each leap. She couldn't keep going. She couldn't stop. White flashes began to cloud her vision.

A sudden flash of headlights and screeching of tyres brought her to a halt and she screamed for her life. The man at the wheel, a young primary school teacher from Rochdale, looked as if he were the one caught in the headlights. For moments he gaped at the wailing woman, standing there bloody and emaciated in only her underwear, holding an unconscious woman in similar physical disarray.

Janet couldn't see for the desperate tears in her eyes and the aching in her mind, body and soul. Her mind was focused on only one thing: saving Rachel. She cried at the man to help, to save them, to take them away from their nightmares. As he sat in shock she ran around to the side of his small Vauxhall, using a foot to pull open the car door and thrust Rachel and herself inside. She managed to screech "hospital" and "phone" at him coherently enough for him to spring into action.

She held Rachel in her arms, finger on her faint pulse for reassurance, as she dialled three nines, almost forgetting how to do just that. Everything civilised seemed foreign to her now. Cars, phones, decent human beings.

As the operator answered her call, she wanted to ask for both the police and an ambulance, but what came out was only "plambulance", so she was put through to medical operators.

"This is D... DC Janet... Manchester... Police... We were kidnapped... She's dying..." Janet gasped between sobs as she desperately tried to find help. The woman at the other end of the phone was so calm that Janet felt slightly irritated.

"Did you not hear me? She's dying!"

-x-x-x-

Gill was back in MIT, curled up in a ball inside one of the toilet cubicles.

After she had learned for definite that Rachel and Janet had been held in that house on Whitby Lane only hours before they had raided it, she could no longer hold back the horrified waves of nausea and guilt that she felt whenever she thought of her two DCs. She couldn't stem the feeling that she was to blame, that she should have sent them with backup, that the next bodies they would find would be theirs.

Her stomach rolls and she's leant over the toilet again, but there's nothing left to come up. She flops back against the side of the cubicle, head spinning, heart thumping.

There's a knock at the door. "Piss off," Gill quickly replies, the effort of speech making her want to throw up again.

"Oi! Moody cow. Let me in."

Gill let out a deep breath and ran a finger under both eyes before reaching up to flick the lock on the cubicle door. Julie stepped in, seeming like a giant to Gill in her current position with her long legs and her ridiculously high red platforms. She looked down at her, her face softening as she crouched down.

She murmured a few words of comfort as she wrapped her arms around her fragile best friend. She trembled as she sobbed into her shirt and clung to her waist, letting out all the built up sorrow of the the past few weeks. Julie let her cry and rocked her back and forth gently, allowing the grief to take place. She shed a few tears herself, though whether these were for their lost colleagues or pain at seeing Gill like this she wasn't sure. She held on to her friend for dear life, not wanting to let her go for fear she might lose her to the guilt.

They sat like that for a good half hour, until Gill's sobs subsided and they held each other in comfortable silence.

"This is bad, isn't it?" Gill whispered. "Don't go all tentative 'victims family' talk on me. I'm a police officer, tell me the truth." Gill gripped her tighter in emphasis.

Julie buried her face in her friend's hair. "Yes," she said softly. "This is bad. But it's not definite. There's still some hope. But yes, to tell you the truth... I wouldn't hold my breath."

Gill resumed sobbing into her friend's chest, oblivious to the insistent rings of her phone a few metres away in her office.

-x-x-x-

As the man's car entered the hospital grounds, Janet both expected and was surprised at the flashing blue lights of multiple police cars gathered around the accident and emergency entrance and the twenty-something doctors and nurses waiting for their arrival. She felt overwhelmed and dizzy and relieved and part of her feared that this was just a dream, some weird vision in the moments between life and death. But then the car stopped, and they were overrun with doctors and police officers trying to pull them out and get them onto trolleys. She managed to keep hold of Rachel's hand as she was lifted up onto the trolley and shrug off all the hands on her back as she followed her friend into the hospital, their fingers still linked tight.

It was only when they rushed her off into resus that she was forced to let go. She herself was immediately lifted onto a trolley and wheeled away.

She had waited for this moment for what seemed like forever. They were free, they were safe, they were getting help. This should be the happiest day of her life.

But all she felt as various people shouted and rushed around her was empty and alone.


	14. Amnesia

**Again, another update! I'm on a roll! Don't know when the next one will be up, I've got exams in a couple of weeks, but hope you enjoy this next chapter. Thank you for all the lovely reviews so far, keep 'em coming! I'm curious to know your thoughts on the story so far :)**

**N x**

-x-x-x-

_Four weeks later_

Janet stared miserably down into her gloopy bowl of Manchester General's finest strawberry-flavoured porridge. Just looking at it made her feel nauseous, and when she stuck her flimsy plastic spoon into it she thought she might gag. The nurse had offered her Fortisip instead, but after weeks of being required to drink it three times a day she had gone through every flavour in existence and could not find it even slightly appetising any longer. She was starting to miss parenteral nutrition. She knew she had to eat, she should be desperate for it after being starved for so long, but the thought of anything made her feel sick to her stomach. Probably because the first solid food they had given her had made her horribly unwell. The doctors had informed her that this was quite common in the refeeding process, but it didn't make her tolerate it any better. For her first week after their escape, she had been fed solely through IV nutrients and the occasional glass of water mixed with glucose. They had then weaned her off that and onto a glass of milk every couple of hours along with a bottle of Fortisip for each meal, and now she was onto little amounts of solids.

She knew that she shouldn't complain. Yes, the transition onto solid food had made her sick, but nowhere near as unwell as Rachel had been. As if needing an operation on her stomach to stop the bleeding caused by weeks of sickness, three days into their stay she had suffered refeeding syndrome and had had to be moved to intensive care. Just when she had thought they were out of the woods, just as she was beginning to relax, she had been woken at 4am by the alarms going off in the bed next to her - Rachel's bed - and she thought she had lost her. She was moved to intensive care and by the time she was back in the high dependency unit, Janet had been moved to a ward. Janet had visited her a couple of times, the doctors didn't want her to move about too much as she needed to conserve energy, but that had gradually fizzled out. The times she had visited they had simply sat in uncomfortable silence, neither one of them sure of what to say. It felt like if they said something, anything, it would confirm that their ordeal was real, make it permanent, and it would no longer be a nightmare to be forgotten over breakfast. All Janet wanted to do was to climb into the bed next to Rachel, to hold onto her and feel like it would all be okay, for their bodies to communicate what their lips could not. But Rachel was surrounded by various tubes and monitors and blankets and Janet didn't have the energy or muscle mass to climb up there. Then the nurse had wheeled her away for her afternoon feed and all she could muster was a choked "goodbye" before she was gone.

Now she couldn't face going back. The distance between them was too agonising and she didn't think she could hold back the tears. She almost missed their time in captivity, when the world was just them, and the fact that she felt that made her want to vomit. But since their escape she had felt more alone than she had ever experienced before. There was no one she could talk to that would understand, not even the counsellor she had been seeing every other day since her arrival in the hospital. How could she tell anyone that she was anything but ecstatic to have escaped with her life? How could they possibly comprehend the overwhelming loneliness she now felt despite being surrounded by people?

"You need to eat that."

She was brought out of her thoughts by the ward sister coming in to check on her. She smiled at her wistfully, then ground her teeth and got to work on her breakfast.

-x-x-x-

As Gill Murray sat scrolling down google on her computer, she couldn't help the little smile on her face. The sun was shining, Rachel and Janet were alive, and they had a lead. After visiting the very frail Detective Constable Bailey the day before, she had almost jumped for joy at their luck.

_"__How are you feeling?"_

_"__Ugh."_

_"__Still that bad, cock? Are the painkillers not helping?"_

_"__No, they are. It's not that. It's…."_

_"__Go on."_

_"__It might be nothing. It's just… I can't remember properly the things that happened… Some sort of brain shield thing the counsellor said… But there was this one thing, and its been bugging me."_

_"__What is it? Take your time, love."_

_"__I… It's not so much a memory as a thought. I don't remember the actual event… The image… But I remember the feeling… And the thought… It's probably nothing, I'm just muddled still."_

_"__No, come on. It doesn't matter how irrelevant or inaccurate you may think it is, it might still be a lead."_

_"__It's just… Well… I thought I recognised him - the big bollocks behind it all. I think I… I went out… One time and I caught a glimpse… Maybe… That's what my brain's telling me, I just don't remember."_

_"__Okay… How do you know he was the bloke behind it all?"_

_"__I… I don't know. I don't remember. It's all so bitty I don't even know what's real and what's just my imagination getting the better of me. I just needed to say it. I think mostly so you could tell me how ridiculous it is."_

_"__It's not ridiculous though, is it? Rachel, this could be a genuine lead."_

_"__But it could be anyone. And I mean, even I can't remember every single person I've ever had some kind of contact with. It's impossible."_

_"__No, but we can start by looking through your work history, cons you've dealt with, narrowing them down."_

_"__But… See that's the thing. I don't think it was a con. The feeling, the recognition I felt, it was more personal than that… I mean I know that doesn't necessarily mean it wasn't someone from work, I know people do become close with their FLAs and that can be mutual, but it just… It feels different."_

_"__Well, as you said, that could just be confusion, but we need to follow every eventuality. I'll get people on it as soon as I get back."_

_"__You still think it could be someone from work then?"_

_"__Yes. I mean, logically, that's the most likely thing. Everyone we've arrested so far has had a record. I don't think anyone in your personal life would have those sorts of connections."_

_"__You've not met my family, boss. They'd blow your mind. But… I really don't want to believe that someone in my personal life, someone I trusted, could do that sort of thing. So why can't I shake that feeling?"_

_"__I understand that, cock. But still, I think it's highly unlikely. Don't worry yourself too much over it, just concentrate on recovery, right now that's the most important thing. And you don't want to put any unnecessary strain on your ticker, do you? I think _I'll _have a cardiac arrest if you pull that one again."_

_"__Sorry about that, boss. I'll try not to."_

_"__Right then. lady, get some rest. I'll get to work on this."_

_"__Thanks, boss. Really."_

_"__No bother. Don't worry, kid, I'll catch the bastard."_

She had spoken to Janet after this, and she had confirmed that whilst they were captured Rachel did say something about recognising one of the men that were holding them. 'D', she called him. And that's when Gill's heart really began to race. A lead. Finally. During the past few weeks, despite having arrested 7 of the people involved, the investigation had ground to a halt. The suspects were refusing to cooperate, nobody new had come forward, all lines of enquiry they had been following had turned out to be irrelevant. Gill was beginning to lose hope of ever catching the evil scum responsible for her officers' ordeal. Until now.

After speaking to Rachel, Gill had contacted an old friend from her time in the faculty that specialised in psychological trauma. She had told her of Rachel's lack of memory of the whole event and had been informed that it was actually quite a common response to such terrible acts, and that the memories would likely come back in time. That wasn't enough for Gill though - the bastards could be half way around the world by then - and so her friend had recommended a type of hypnotic therapy designed to recover memories in the subconscious that were blocked by a traumatic event. However, finding anyone that was any good at it, and could be trusted with such a high profile case, was like trying to find a needle in a haystack. But she had found a couple of names she thought could help, and her friend was going to ask around to see if anyone she knew had any recommendations.

Things were looking up.

-x-x-x-

Kevin Lumb was on exhibits. Again. Nothing was more boring, draining, and time-consuming than labelling, bagging, and filing away little bits of 'evidence' that would never be used in court and probably weren't even evidence at all when it came down to it. And it was the fourth time this week. If there was any way a person could be bored to death, this was it.

He spun around his his chair whilst pondering his next paper aeroplane modification. Shorter wings maybe? Or perhaps more folds around the tip? It was worth a try anyway. He cast a glance towards the wastepaper basket, overflowing with discarded old inventions and crisp packets. The polar bears were sure going to hate him. Though the chances of one of them finding and brutally murdering him, he concluded, were slim and so he reached out for another piece of police-issue paper and set to work on his new creation.

He was about half way through when his email pinged on his phone. Half-heartedly, he picked it up to read. Ah. The fancy forensics people in London had finally got back in touch with Gill, and they could now send down the super secret 'no one look inside that bag or I'll leg you' evidence that the boss wanted re-examining by someone more adequate.

With a groan, he stretched out his weary limbs before shuffling over to the section in which all the evidence for the Rachel and Janet investigation were stored. It was looking pretty sparse, if he was honest. They hadn't really managed to collect much, mostly due to the fact they hadn't really got any leads.

No wonder the boss wanted the existing evidence gone over in more detail.

-x-x-x-

"Morning, slap," Gill cheerily answered her phone.

"Really? Because I was under the impression 3pm was more commonly referred to as 'afternoon'."

"I'm just messing with you." She wasn't. "So what do you want?"

"Nothing. Just checking how you are, making sure you aren't working yourself too hard."

"You really are a nosey cow, aren't you?" Gill smirked. "I'm fine, honestly. I even got home before 2am last night."

"Ooh, well done you."

Gill chuckled. "I'm doing fine Jules, seriously. I'm actually feeling very positive about the direction the investigation is currently moving in. I've just finished emailing some hypnotists for Rachel."

"Oh you're not still on about that, are you?" Julie laughed. "Load of bollocks if you ask me."

"I'm not asking you. Anyway, anything's worth a try. Can't do any harm."

"Yeah, I suppose. Fancy a drink after work?"

Gill smiled. "Don't think many pubs are open at two in the morning, do you?" She teased.

"Ha ha," Julie replied sarcastically. "We'll meet at ten. You need to get out of that office and into the real world."

"Hmm, I'll have to think about it," she smiled to herself, hoping Julie wouldn't hear it in her voice.

"Playing hard to get, are we?" Damn. "Come on, for me?"

She hesitated purposefully, grinning to herself. "Go on then, since you asked so nicely."

"Great, see you at ten then." Julie hung up the phone. Now who was playing hard to get?

She returned to reviewing some case notes on her computer that should have been finished and sent off days ago. She couldn't get the motivation to finish them, not with the developments in the case. But, she needed the chief con off her back, so she set to work.

She glanced up to see Kevin passing her office window, looking sheepish. What had he done now? Something, obviously, as he was heading for her office. She saw rather than heard the tentative knock on her door and called for him to come in. He didn't. Just stood in the doorway, looking like a puppy that was about to get a blocking for shitting on the carpet again.

"What's up?" She looked at him piercingly.

He wilted under her gaze, his eyes drifting to the floor. "Um, you know that evidence you asked me to get out… To send to London."

"Yes, what about it?"

"It's… er… gone."

"It's what? It's gone?" He nodded slowly, still avoiding her eyes. "Where the fuck has it gone to?" She yelled.

"I don't know, ma'am."

"Well you'd better fucking find it! Quick! That could have been a vital piece of evidence and you've gone and bloody lost it! Jesus Christ. Just go, Kevin. And when I see you next you'd better have found or else I will personally see to it that you never work in the force again!"

He scuttled off with his tail between his legs, for once looking genuinely sorry.

Shit.


	15. Subsidence

**Sorry this one took so long. I've had exams and I've also been trying to set up a concrete plan for this (mainly so I don't forget things). Thank you for all the wonderful reviews so far, they really help. A couple of you said that you wanted to see more of Rachel's perspective, so I've included a bit of that in this chapter. As for Rachel and Gill's reunion, I have a very specific use for that later on in the story, but it's definitely coming! **

**Hope you enjoy the chapter!**

**N xxx**

-x-x-x-

_"__So?"_

_"__So what?"_

_"__Did you get it?"_

_"__Yes."_

_"__Well done. Have you sorted it out?"_

_"__Yes."_

_"__And the witness?"_

_"__I'll deal with it. I have easy access. Just give me time."_

_"__You'd better do it soon. We can't afford to hang around with this. If you haven't done it in the next couple of days, I'll get someone else onto it."_

_"__Yes, boss." _

_"__Right."_

_The phone cuts off. She takes a deep breath, leaning back in her chair and kicking her handbag under her desk so as to hide the opaque evidence packet sticking out of it. _

-x-x-x-

The atmosphere in the pub was loud and, despite only being on her second glass of wine, Gill was beginning to feel tipsy. Her and Julie were hidden away in a little booth towards the rear of the bar, away from the shouting and cheering of the regulars' weekly snooker tournament. She had missed this, their rare nights out that had become almost nonexistent since Janet and Rachel had been abducted and her world had caved in. It felt good to be out of the office knowing that her officers were safe and well. Though that was more than could be said for Kevin.

"…and then that fucking dopey excuse for an officer comes in my office and tell me that he's lost what was quite possibly the most valuable piece of evidence we've got so far! 'It's, er, gone, ma'am'. Fucking idiot! So I've spent the rest of the day having to go through every person that's been in that room for the past week trying to find out what happened to it and I just… I'm starting to think you were right about him." Gill shook her head angrily and took another large gulp of wine.

Julie almost laughed. "It can't be that much of his fault. He's hardly been playing football with it, has he? It'll turn up sooner or later."

"It'd better! Or else he'll be out on his arse," Gill snapped. She sighed heavily and laid back in her seat. "I'm so fucking tired. I really thought that was our ticket, you know? And now it's gone. I feel so hopeless. I mean, what if we never find them?" Her limbs suddenly felt very heavy, as if gravity had somehow increased and she was being dragged to the ground by it's intense force. Quickly, she reached out for her wine before the stinging in her eyes became too much and her lip started to tremble.

Julie eyed her friend sympathetically. "We will," she said forcefully. "And when we do, they'll be going away for a long time. What about Rachel's hypnotherapy? Is that not going anywhere?"

Gill groaned and rubbed a hand over her face. "You said yourself it's a load of bollocks. And so far you've been proved right. The therapist says that some memories just can't be recovered anyway." She says it matter-of-fact, hiding the twisting in her gut at the thought of never finding them, of never achieving the one thing she joined the force to bring about: justice. Her head was spinning with all sorts of possibilities. Where were they? How did they manage not to leave a trace? Why haven't they found a single viable lead?

Were they being watched?

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up with the thought and her movements suddenly became very guarded, almost robotic, as she grew aware of her every move. Cautiously, she placed her empty wine glass back on the table, taking care not to make a sound. She turned carefully to her friend, who was watching her intently.

"Jules," she started, making sure to keep her voice as quite as the din would allow and her lips almost motionless. "Do you think we could be being followed?"

Julie blinked at her, stunned for a moment before looking at her incredulously. "Of course not, you silly cow! What makes you think that?"

"How are they getting away with it? How come every step forward we take automatically pulls us two steps back?" She could feel a lump in the back of her throat now, catching on her every word. Her chest felt impossibly tight.

"No. No, that's not what's happening. How would they hear us? They can't get in the station, and they can't gather that sort of information from following us outside, we don't discuss cases in that much detail. No." She shook her head. "I understand this is frustrating, I feel it too, but that's not what's happening here. You're just clutching at straws, trying to make sense of something that can't yet be made sense of." She took her friend's hand and gave it a comforting squeeze.

Gill relaxed slightly at her touch, but something was still bugging her. She remembered Elise's words when she handed over that potentially vital piece of evidence. It had played on her mind ever since. But could she break her sworn confidentiality by bringing it up with Julie? She hadn't even told her what the evidence was, ever-conscious of Rachel and Janet's safety. But now they were safe, and who could she trust if not her best friend?

She shifted closer to Julie until they were almost shoulder to shoulder, prompting a confused frown. Leaning across to her friend's ear, she lowered her voice to a whisper. "That piece of evidence Kev supposedly lost, it was a letter Elise received just after they went missing."

"Okay," Julie said slowly, still looking puzzled, but she allowed Gill to go on.

"They - the kidnappers - had sent her an envelope containing some of Janet's hair and a letter telling her to leave one of her personal belongings behind a bush in a local park. If she didn't they threatened to kill Janet. But she told me about it, and I agreed to keep it between Lee and I, as he could handle the forensics."

Julie turned to her. "Why are you telling me this now? Why didn't you tell me earlier?"

Gill took a deep breath. "I wanted to keep it to as little people as possible. I only did it to put her mind at ease, really. But she… she reckoned it could be an… inside job."

Julie stared at her like she'd just dropped off a Christmas tree. "You can't be serious?"

"What do you think of it?"

"I-" Julie almost spluttered. "I think it's a load of shite, that's what I think. Seriously Gill, you need to stop with all these loony theories, you're going to make yourself ill."

Gill considered disagreeing with her but decided against it, realising how barmy she must sound. "Right. Okay, I'll chill out. I just thought it was worth mentioning."

"That's fine, just don't dwell on it too much. Your team may be incompetent, but they're not bent."

"Oi!" She gave her friend a playful kick under the table, relaxing a little at her friend's reassurance. "My officers are of the highest quality, thank you very much. Which is more than I could say of your daft sergeant."

"Excuse you, lady," Julie retorted. "At least he's not Kevin Lumb."

Gill tried to think up a counter-argument to that but failed miserably. She laughed. "Okay, you win. This time!"

Julie smiled at her fondly. "Well, not all teams can be perfect. Especially when their DCI's a fruitcake."

"Don't put yourself down, slap. You're not insane, you're _unique_."

She laughed as she stood up. "I wasn't talking about me, love," she said pointedly. "I'm getting a round in, think we could do with something a bit stronger than that god-awful wine, don't you?"

-x-x-x-

Janet's eyes felt heavy as she gazed out of the hospital window, praying to be anywhere else. Andy was sat on a chair at the other side of her bed, rambling on about something or other. His hand on her's made her feel sick and she couldn't look him in the eye, but she couldn't send him away either. Anything that made her forget, even for a moment, she cherished.

"… don't you think so, Janet?"

She was brought out of her thoughts by his question. Wearily, she turned her head and smiled a smile anyone but him would realise was false. He was so blinded by infatuation - because that's all it was really, she couldn't believe for a second that he loved her - that her every action further supported his view that she wanted him. It dawned on her then that her and Andy were much of the same - two people that had been through a world of shit and were desperate for something to fill the loneliness. For Andy it was his divorce, his depression, but for her it was the overwhelming feeling that despite escaping with her life, despite the fact that on the surface everything was looking up, her life had ended. She would never be who she was before she went in that room. The things that had happened will always have happened, and she couldn't change that. She would always have been locked away, assaulted, starved, tortured. It was written in her history forever. And every time she met someone new, she would know that she was keeping something from them, she would wonder how they would react if they knew, she would wonder if they themselves had ever inflicted such pain. How could she form relationships with people ever again? She looked around and every man she saw was a rapist, every woman an associate, every smiling face a lie. Even seeing her daughters made her feel panic as she couldn't shake the thought that _they will be victims one day. _And how could she live through that?

"So you agree? I am so happy we're finally giving this a go, Janet. I promise I won't get under your feet. I love you"

Horror twisted in her gut as she realised he was talking about moving in together. She quickly hid it beneath another false smile.

"Yeah," she said softly, her eyes feeling as though they were being dragged into her skull. "Not just yet, though. Give me a bit of time to get out of here first."

"Okay, okay," he said, grinning. "I'm going to go get a coffee, do you want one? A little cake maybe?"

"I can't eat things like that yet," she said quietly. "You go on. I'm knackered, I think I'll have a sleep. I'll see you later." _Please go away._

He nodded, still smiling to himself. "Okay, I'll come again tomorrow. You get some rest."

She smiled thankfully, then grimaced as he leant down to give her a kiss.

-x-x-x-

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Rachel thought that noise was going to drive her mad. It was constant. All day, all night. Beep fucking beep.

She longed to get out of there. It felt as though she had gone from one place of captivity only to land in another. Many times she had thought of doing a runner, even if just for a couple of hours, but the sheer quantity of tubes going in and out of her and the fact that she struggled even to sit up properly made her mind up that it wasn't worth the effort.

She gave the nurse a small smile as he came in to change her drip. He tried to make small talk, but she wasn't in the mood to maintain it. That was probably why her visits had seemed to dwindle recently. Alison had been a couple of times, but she really couldn't put up with her at the best of times and her cold remarks had quickly reduced their contact to a phone call every other day, Alison citing being too busy with the kids as her excuse for not visiting. Not that Rachel cared. The only person whose visits had remained regular was Gill. She had been pleasantly surprised at the care her boss had shown her since they had escaped. In all honesty, she had never really believed that she was that bothered. But when she thought about it she realised that Gill was unlikely to realise the high regard she had for her either, so it went both ways.

Then there was Janet. Her best friend - if she could still call her that. She didn't really know what to call her any more. During their time in the Blue Room, they had been more in the territory of lovers. Now they were barely anything. Janet had come to see her once or twice. They had sat in silence the whole time, Rachel begging for all her feelings to show through her eyes without needing to force words through her raw throat. Apparently that hadn't gotten across, and Janet had stopped visiting. Gill had assured her that Janet was probably just too exhausted to come, but how could she be more exhausted now than a couple of weeks ago? Maybe she was regretting the turn their relationship had taken whilst capture, and if she did Rachel would respect that. She didn't want to lose her. She loved her. And if that meant remaining best friends, she was happy with that. Though she would give anything to feel her lips again, she needed her best friend.

She turned her head to look at the clock on the wall. 7:30 am. She had hypnotherapy at nine. Ugh. That was a trauma. She had tried so hard to remember, to see his face, but all that had happened so far was her ending up screaming the place down and returning to her room with puffy red eyes and a banging headache. Gill seemed optimistic that it would work, and she honestly wanted it to, but it was so exhausting reliving the whole thing only to come up blank when it came to that dark, shadowy image. Maybe she had imagined it.

Her thoughts returned to Janet. What was she doing now? Was she asleep? Was she lying in bed thinking the same thoughts as her? Probably not. If she knew Janet, she was probably reading a book or something. Rachel had never understood her constant urge to read. When Rachel wanted to relax, she would turn the telly on and let her mind rest, but Janet always read. It was beyond Rachel how that was even remotely restful, but it was one of the many things she adored about her. She smiled to herself as she pictured her friend lost in a book, oblivious to the whole world around her, glasses perched on the end of her nose.

Hopefully that was the world her friend was currently occupied in.

-x-x-x-

Janet was woken from a fitful slumber by the sound of the food trolley entering her room. She stifled a groan.

"Morning. Porridge or cornflakes, love?"

Janet rubbed her eyes. "Um… porridge please."

She slopped a large spoonful of porridge from the pot on the trolley into a dish and handed it to her. Janet forced a smile, then she was gone.

She really wasn't in the mood for eating. Her mind couldn't see the need for it. It wasn't helping anything. She was still a victim, a case to be studied. She had still been assaulted.

She didn't want food. She didn't want anything. She didn't even want to exist. Everything felt wrong. It didn't even feel real.

Quickly checking for nurses, she grabbed the bowl of porridge and tip-toed to the bathroom in the corner of her room. She hesitated for a moment, flashbacks from her teens rushing through her mind. But she couldn't face it.

She scooped the porridge into the toilet, flushed, and quickly returned to her bed.


End file.
